everything's newer here. cleaner. clear skies people are polite so, no i don't miss the narrow, congested streets, old houses. clouds --what my father called, the "rat race" that eventually stopped his heart but i went back 15 years ago in september like a salmon returning to it's place of birth there was something in the nature -- air, trees, wildlife, proximity to the ocean that was familiar and comforting and the people do seem more real and upfront to me more revealing flaws and all