I just have to set the record straight
I didn't work in Ireland or England. Part of me misses the whole full-time housewife/mother gig, but most of me is glad I'm contributing a bit financially now. Frankly, we couldn't afford for me not to in this country anyway.
Dawn's a table games dealer at Cleveland's only casino. She earns about the same as I do per hour. I'm an electrical engineer with 38 years experience. I don't begrudge that at all. I don't think I could do what she does. She's subjected to verbal abuse and just plain bad manners on a daily basis by idiots who think she has something to do with their gambling outcomes. Most of her income comes from tips. Her actual hourly rate is something like a miserly $5/hr. On one memorable day in 2016, a Cleveland Indians' baseball player visited the casino and went on a 24-hour heater, tipping the dealers very nearly $500,000 along the way. Dawn made $2,000 for that one shift - happy days! Unfortunately, it's never been repeated but, only today Dawn told me that the same player is likely back playing for Cleveland this year after moving to Texas for a season, last year. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that Dawn contributes way more than a 'bit' financially and she earns every cent.
I'm genuinely very happy with how we've landed on our feet over here, but our 'landing' wouldn't be considered properly acceptable where I come from. Fortunately, my 'don't give a feck' attitude has unexpectedly transferred well with my true friends over here. We've a lovely home in a lovely neighborhood, but it's not considered the 'right part of town' by some. That bothered me at first because I was from that other part of town growing up. Now...I don't give a flying rat's arse.
It's exactly the right part of town, it's just seen as 'the wrong town'. We live in Elyria which has some pretty rough areas. North-East Ohio has a bad drugs problem (as bad, if not worse than anywhere else in the States) and Elyria is as bad as anywhere. However, we live in a beautiful area, with tree-lined avenues, large houses and really friendly neighbours.
Jack so very much misses proper pronunciation. Ok. Maybe he doesn't miss it so much but takes the absolute piss out of Yank pronunciation. "What did D's and T's ever do to upset ye?"
I do give the Yanks a little gentle ribbing about their fast and loose attitude to the pronunciation of the letter 'T'; sometimes it's 't', sometimes it's 'd' and sometimes they can't be arsed with it at all. I also take issue with their refusal to say aluminium when they're all over condominium.
Truth be told, English, both the American and British version, is full of such anomalies and I myself am guilty of abusing the letter 't'. I blame my Leicestershire accent He also desperately misses work holidays and I agree 100%. In the UK he had 33 vacation days (including public holidays). In the US he has 17 (including public holidays). It's ridic how little they care about that stuff over here. It seems you live to work in America whereas you've half a chance of working to live in Europe.
I don't 'desperately' miss anything from home, Dawnie (I call Dawn 'Dawnie' - she likes it
). In fact, I think it's fair to say that I've not been homesick in the slightest. I was a bit disappointed when last year's medical bills put paid to this year's tentatively planned first return trip - we both were. Even my friends and family don't seem far away when all you have to do is get on Skype for a chat.
I do miss a good curry. We've tried to find a decent Indian restaurant but to no avail. I've come to the conclusion that American Indian cuisine is a different style. I will definitely be filling my boots when we
do make the trip home. A good old fry-up, à la 'Rate my breakfast', would be high on my list when we get home too.
Luckily for me, not so much Dawn, I'm spoiled with the rugby coverage over here, now. Initially, I was dependant on dodgy live streams to watch my beloved Leicester Tigers. For the last year though, NBC Sports Network has offered every single Aviva Premiership game live (or in-full replays if you can't catch the live games) for the princely sum of $60 per year. Suffice to say, I'm yet to miss a game this season
In addition to the healthcare costs (the healthcare itself is fantastic), the only other downside to the move is the ridiculously low amount of holidays you get. In Britain, I had 8 bank holidays and 25 days off. Here, I get 7 bank holidays and 10 days off - and that's after I negotiated it up from 5! The working day also tends to be longer, but that was on an upward trend for me in Britain too. I was thinking about it the other day. When I started work down the pit in 1980, it was a 7¼ hour shift. When I moved to Desford Tubes it was 8 hours. My final British job was an 8½ hour shift duration. My first role this side was a 9 hour day and I'm now having to do a 9½ hour stint. I'd better hurry up and retire before I run out of hours in the day!
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