A new life; same as the old life?

Now it's official, I have to get cracking. My start date is the 1st April, which seems quite a long way away, but as I write, it is, in fact, a mere 10 weeks, or 72 days or approx 1728 hours away, and I already have several weeks or weekends blocked out for stuff, including at least one weekend working, a trip to Chicago to check out places to live, Vegas for a week, Alp Duez for skiing, up home to visit the family and, of course, the last few games of golf with Charlie. As most of you will know, the voltage in the US is different, and with a few exceptions, I will need to sell all my electrical stuff. I also want to have a good clear out of all my rubbish, sorry I mean quality merchandise. So this is a shameless plug to sell all my old, and some quite new, tat! I had the man round last week to give me an estimate on moving a little or a lot of stuff out there, but as I want to rent the flat out, it would be best to leave as much stuff as possible behind; and it will probably be as

As the great man once said..my kinda town, Chicago is....I don't yet know if the same will hold true for me, but only time will tell! Those of you who know me well, will know that it has been a long time dream of mine to emigrate to the US to live and work. I have visited the country many times and always found the people to be very welcoming and the lifestyle & attitude, one that appeals. Since the Hewitt takeover at Bacon & Woodrow, that dream took one step closer to reality. Over the 3 1/2 years since the "merger" I have worked very closely with my US colleagues and formed some very strong bonds both personally and professionally, and so here I find myself with an opportunity to fulfill the dream. I have accepted a job in the Global Support Centre, managing a team of 15 or so associates, as part of a bigger support team of over 90, supporting our internal customers across the world 24 hours of every single day. I will be based in Lincolnshire, just o