alexist

The other day, Green Day's "Holiday" came on the local radio station (95.5). I was surprised they were playing it because of the lyrics.

Of course, then the song continued and I realised they'd cut the most political part of the song (the verse that starts "The representative from California...")

Wimps!

I love the US, but man, I miss British radio. Virgin is practically the perfect mix of music, Radio 2 isn't bad (it's just stretched thin now that Radio 1's target audience seems to end at age 22) and Radio 4 is cool.

Miss British TV too, though I realise it does help that they get to cherry-pick from American TV (so they don't show the crap, and they have fewer hours to program themselves). But the mix of programs on British TV is really good. Shame the movie channels suck (Sky Movies isn't a patch on HBO and Showtime).

Being at my parents' is slightly surreal. They live only a few minutes from where I grew up, but for various reasons this area has only been developed (or re-developed in some cases) fairly recently. It's all brand new and bland and could be absolutely anywhere in the US. New office parks, new housing developments, new shopping centres. A big chunk of it used to be Fairchild-Republic and part of the adjacent airport, so not only is it new, it's dead flat and has no trees. Combine that with a big box retail park (home to Borders, CompUSA, Bed&Bath, Staples, Home Depot, and multiplex cinema) and it is just the most deadening suburban experience ever.

And because it's all new, and started out as office parks, there are weird omissions. There's no supermarket in the immediate vicinity, and the nearest 7-Eleven we could find was the one north of the LIE. None from the Southern State up to the LIE (2 major east-west roads).

(cjbroz - you would not believe what it's like here now - both Republic and the old LIDC are all built up...)

Then you drive 10 minutes north, where I grew up, and it's all old-style suburbia again. With loads of trees and even some hills (Long Island's highest point, Jayne's Hill [a whopping 400ft above sea level and now you know why I bitch about London] is here).

And because I did grow up nearby, it's all familiar, but not. I know all the main roads and the parkway exits (the true Long Island marker of where you are) but I go "wait, what's that doing there?" or "When did those houses get built?" or "WHO has an office on Pinelawn Road?"

(* - that wikipedia article says Fairchild moved to Hagerstown in 1931, but they had manufacturing facilities at Farmingdale until 1987.)