You wouldn't be dead for quids

Which is an old Australian saying meaning you wouldn't want to miss that!

I think you'll all remember how much I enjoyed my chances to visit, on the company dollar, Nice, France. Indeed, I wouldn't have been dead for quids!

One of my colleagues had to visit Nice last week, at the same time that I was in The Philippines. Lucky bastard! But he tried everything he could think of to avert the dire necessity of travel. When he discovered he couldn't; that he was the one who had to go and no other, he then did everything he could to minimise the time he had to be there!

Of course this post reflects my biasses; if I was offered the chance to go, once again, to Nice, I'd be on the plane tomorrow, bumpy flights into and out of Phoenix or not! So I found it a trifle difficult to understand why he was so adamantly opposed to travelling to the French Riviera and when I pressed the issue I got this priceless quote 'Everything I could ever want is in the US'.

Hmmmm.

There's much to be admired in the US. Prime Rib, a Phoenix sunset whatever the time of year, Asian car makers buying their way into the market by offering insanely long warranties, Chili's Bar and Grill during a baseball game, the reverence Americans display at a flag raising. You get my drift.

But there's also much to be admired elsewhere in the world. Again, my biasses on display. Perhaps it's because I'm not in the country of my birth but when I first even heard of the possibility of being sent to France I wanted to be sent there. Likewise with Japan, Korea and The Philippines.

Should I end this post by noting that, by his own admission, when he was there he ate thrice at the local MacDonalds? Nah, I won't end there because another of my colleagues shook his head in disbelief at that news. My other colleague being a military brat (his own words) who looks 100% the clean cut American College Kid, calls everyone Sir (man that embarasses me) and who spent half his childhood on various US military bases outside the US. He positively drooled at the idea of being within walking distance of a French Patisserie again.

No, I'll end this post by saying that I am eligible to apply for US citizenship 31 days from now, on August 20, 90 days before the third anniversary of becoming a Legal Permanent Resident. My application goes in on that day because I've already chosen to be a part of this society and it's the next step. I'll never stop being an Australian - I'll be that strangest of animals, an Australian-American. Look out, world :-)