Travel fiction – where the ‘right place’ transforms lives

Travel fiction – where the ‘right place’ transforms lives

From Y2K to Brexit

From Y2K to Brexit

How can it possibly be twenty years since the whole Y2K thing? Remember all that ‘Your laptop will explode at midnight because it won’t be able to tell the time’ or some such nonsense? Well, nothing happened to my laptop or the oven clock. My car didn’t swerve off the...
Excuse Not to Write #46: Transatlantic Distractions and Dance Parties

Excuse Not to Write #46: Transatlantic Distractions and Dance Parties

  I admit it. I’m distracted. Which doesn’t bode well for a writer. A recent trip to England, a house search while over there, a million things to contemplate about relocation across the pond, and, well, it’s all spinning in my head and any kind of writing gets...
So, A Veggie Platter Walks into A Courthouse …

So, A Veggie Platter Walks into A Courthouse …

  I assisted at a US citizenship oath ceremony last week, held at the District Courthouse in Madison, Wisconsin. By ‘assist’ I mean I crinkle cut vast quantities of veggies and lugged a cooler through courthouse security. No mean feat, actually, as the handle of the...
World Chaos, Transatlantic Relocation – and Painting the Bunker Red

World Chaos, Transatlantic Relocation – and Painting the Bunker Red

I’m gearing up to sell my house in the spring. If all goes according to plan, it will be my last house sale in the USA in preparation for my first house purchase in the UK. With me so far? Plan – move – UK? You have questions, you say? Oh. You mean why are my American...
Celebrating 30 Years with Tanks and Pie

Celebrating 30 Years with Tanks and Pie

July has been a big month in the Gemmell household, two newsworthy events occurring within days of each other. First, after decades of dithering about citizenship, I celebrated my first Fourth of July as a US citizen. I know, right? Hell froze over despite climate...
Relocation Countdown: Transatlantic Hireth and Abandoned Plants

Relocation Countdown: Transatlantic Hireth and Abandoned Plants

I’m fortunate to have citizenship in two countries: The United Kingdom and the United States of America. But it’s not lost on me that ‘United’ appears in both nations’ titles when ‘united’ currently seems a strained concept in either place. Pick your poison: the...