It's warm here.

Not 'warm' warm. More like 'early spring' warm. A.k.a. early fall 'bloody freezing'. Actually, that's not true. The temperature is in the forties. Consistently. And the wind is blowing. Consistently. Which it does here year round anyway.

It's good to be home. Even if it means I won't get white Christmas this year. It's good, because I now realize that I have missed all this people even more than I thought. And because I needed to correct a picture of life here, which I had begun to paint in a rosier hue than reality exudes.

First off, it is dark. It stays dark here for full three or four hours longer than at my new home. I mean, I don't get a hint of daylight until 10 am, and it is gone again by 4 pm.

Secondly, the pace is faster. Not just because it's a city. Everybody is not just moving faster, but more frantically too. I had begun to forget about that.

Finally, things are tougher. Like the traffic. And the fight for whatever: Taxis. Movie tickets. Fast food. Drinks. Etc. The humor is also darker. Waaay darker. Which is actually also nice. In a sense.

Home.

And then I will get my two girls tomorrow. Finally.