I'm always fascinated when I hear of a random fellow American who has settled into life in Britain. Remember Rich Hall from Saturday Night Live in the 1980s? His career is perking along nicely here and he's currently performing down the road from me in Edinburgh. Starsky's Hutch and now reality TV contestant David Soul also lives here, in London. A Radio 4 interview with him the other day revealed he's got dual citizenship (yes, it's possible to obtain; the U.S. doesn't advertise the fact it's possible, but it is. Don't ask, don't tell, right?).Anyway, Soul surprised the interviewer by saying he can vote not only in the American elections, but British as well! I liked the sound of that....
I moved here for marriage, without knowing I could be a dual citizen. I just assumed I'd remain an expat, until the day we decide to move back—which would not, my husband insists, be while a Republican is still in the White House. Not too far long to go, surely, but...honestly, I'm so disgusted with the state of health care in America, and I'm getting so "spoiled" by the NHS (I lived for years without any coverage in New York), I don't want to go back yet. I can't see America getting universal health care anytime soon. The insurance-industrial complex (sorry, Ike) will never let that happen, IMHO. Obama talks about a single-payer system, as an interim solution, it seems (quote from the Wall Street Journal, just to show I'm well rounded), an acknowledgment of that awkwardness, perhaps.
Universal health care is an issue I feel passionate about. Now that I have it—it's been a year and three months I've been enjoying its benefits—I'm thinking more and more of making my relationship to Britain official, of making an honest woman of her and "dualising" myself. If, of course, she'll have me.
