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Editor’s NoteIt’s funny that when you live in a foreign country far from your home, the things that you miss the most don’t end up being the things that you thought you’d miss. I really miss my family and friends. That’s not too surprising. Nobody can take the place of your family, and I’ve never made friends here like the ones that I had back home. One of the other things that I miss is the easy access to really good music. The choices here are pretty limited, especially since my tastes run more toward the offbeat and hard to find. If all I wanted to listen to was the Black Eyed Peas, Shayne Ward or Girly Berry, I’d be set. I can’t even get iTunes here, for heaven’s sake. (Hear that, Steve?) Among other things I also miss, in no particular order, are beef jerky, pine trees and driving on the right side of the road. They’re small things, but taken together they sometimes get me down. Don’t get me wrong — I like living in Thailand. But as the old cliché goes, it’s the little things. But sometimes I get a pleasant surprise, something that I’ve missed that suddenly appears out of the blue unlooked for. Take for instance my recent discovery of really good burritos. Good Mexican food is difficult to find in Thailand’s City of Angels, but at last somebody has opened a place on Sukhumvit that actually knows how to make a tasty burrito. A quick note to anybody who might wonder or be thinking of opening their own Mexican restaurant in the future: Tacos should not have beans in them, and never, under any circumstances, should a burrito include corn of any kind. Another thing that I’ve missed since I came here all those years ago is diet soda in any flavour besides cola. I don’t drink regular fizzy drinks because they’re nothing but empty calories and are bad for your teeth. Pepsi Max and Coke Zero are great, but there’s more to life than cola. And I get enough caffeine in my daily dose of coffee. For the past four years or so, I’d been complaining to anybody who’d listen that I wished there were other diet sodas to choose from. With that in mind, you can imagine how happy I was on a recent trip to the supermarket to find Sprite Zero. Now, I wasn’t as happy as, say, if I’d discovered a trunk full of gold under my patio, but one takes one’s pleasure where one can. Because I’m basically a fatalist at heart and assume that nothing good ever lasts, I stock up on the stuff every time I go to the store. I even pick up an extra bottle when I go to Seven — even if I don’t need it. So life has recently become just a small bit better for me here, so far from home. And once again, it’s a little thing that did it. Sean Vale |
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