Blog: I have spent many a lunch hour reading the Shropshire Star from afar, never thinking that I might become a Star blogger, a breed that I have mercilessly picked on in the comments section under a selection of pseudonyms, writes Mark Ellis.

Now it is my turn to stick my neck out, blog, and provide a glimpse into my little world. And I fully deserve/encourage any retaliatory action from my fellow commenters.

I moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1993 to work for an American commercial finance company on a contract that was intended to last for two years.

I had worked for a subsidiary of the company in London for eight years, starting in the mid-80s, and thought a couple of years in a different country would be a great experience for me, my wife, and our 15 month old daughter.

To cut a long story short, we are still here – my then-15 month old daughter has just finished her first year at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and I have an American-born 17 year old son about to start his last year at High School.

Shropshire is where I grew up and where I hope to return one day (or be returned as the case may be!). My very unimpressive school career included stops at Adams Grammar School, Newport, Shrewsbury School, and what was then Shrewsbury Tech (where I met my future wife) before moving to London to go to college and eventually start my career.

So, enough of the history lesson, what pearls of wisdom from my time in the US can I share with you that might be deemed entertaining or informative?

Therein lies the challenge. I have read many blogs over the years and generally come away with the feeling that my time could have been more usefully spent rinsing the cat or cleaning the grout on the kitchen floor.

So, I figure I’ll touch on aspects of life in Arizona and the US that are very different, frequently challenging, and sometimes downright frustrating when compared to living in the UK and, particularly, Shropshire, and hopefully they will provide a little diversion, insight, and maybe even some humor.

Things that come to mind are sport, language, spelling, teenage drinking, drug use, education, local council funding, immigration (a major issue in Arizona), driving, trash, gas guzzling vehicles, weather (another major issue in AZ) and the cost of living.

For obvious reasons I plan to stay a long way away from religion (not many C of E churches in Scottsdale) and politics (as a Green Card holder I have the pleasure of taxation without representation, so getting involved in politics is futile unless I apply for citizenship).

I should point out that I have started my plagiarism with my first blog title – those of you familiar with the author Bill Bryson may have read “In a Sunburned Country” about his travels in Australia. I figured blogging from a State where the temperature frequently exceeds 110 degrees during the summer there had to be some reference to the heat.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing more in the future.