Ma’am, it’s only a small cow town!

On February 26th Jean and I, and a caravan of dogs and cats, arrived at our new home in Payson, Arizona.

We chose Payson simply because we wanted seasons.  Payson is about an hour NE of Phoenix up at 5,000 feet and has very distinct seasons!

Both of us for different reasons thought we knew America pretty well.  Jean was married to an American for nearly 30 years and I had been doing business in the US for a long time, even having my own (small) US company based in New Jersey.

But what neither of us anticipated was the wonderful warmth and friendliness of the Payson inhabitants.  Despite the fact that Payson is hurting big time as a result of the economic situation, the majority of people that we met were happy, smiling and wonderfully accepting of a couple of Brits turning up in their town.

Indeed, Jean spoke to this stranger in the local supermarket, a tall guy complete with the boots and Stetson hat, and asked simply, “Why are so many people in Payson smiling?”

His reply was simply, “Ma’am, it’s only a small cow town!”

Well here’s a couple of newcomers to this small cow town who like it!

By Paul Handover

• Environment
• Musings
• People