A small island

It was, I think, his book Notes From a Small Island that brought fame to that American Anglophile, Bill Bryson. Not too many of we Brits think of Great Britain, the island which consists of England, Scotland and Wales, as small. Indeed, we are astonished when we hear American visitors say that they have spent a couple of days "doing" England. In that time they might well have visited London, Windsor, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath and Cambridge, a feat that seems impossible to those of us who live here. But when one compares the size of England with the size of the USA - well, yes this is indeed a small island, a very small island. (I'm not entirely certain of this, but I think I once read somewhere that there is nowhere in England that is more than 75 miles from the sea.)

It is probably the sheer size of their country that makes so many Americans quite apathetic to anything happening outside their borders. I can quite understand why so few US citizens bother to acquire passports. With all that country to explore, with the variety of its weather and the differences in landscape, why would they bother? They can go skiing sunbathing, hunting, fishing, play golf on some of the world's best courses . . . The list just goes on and on.

I like America. I have been there on several occasions and have visited New York, Washington, Boston, Detroit and San Francisco among its major cities, and I have driven through the Blue Mountains in Virginia, Yosemite in California and seen fall in New England. I have seen fantastic scenery and marvellous architecture, and met some of the most generous and friendly people it is possible to meet. All the same, I do sometimes find Americans puzzling, especially when it comes to that attitude they can show of thinking that nothing happens unless it happens in the good old US of A. I feel like shaking them and saying, 'Come on, guys, there's more to life than this.'

What happened in New York on 9/11 (and almost happened a couple of days ago) was shocking, but there was a certain smugness evident in the attitude of some Brits. Their thinking was something along the lines of, 'Now you now something of what we have been putting up with for 30 years from the IRA - and much of their funding came from you!'. Of course that was not in any way the right reaction, but it was perhaps understandable.

As I said, I like America and I would love to see more of that great country and meet more of its people. But do you know? I don't think I could ever be truly happy living anywhere but on this small island.