I enjoyed many happy years at The Glasgow Academy, but for now, I’d like to share a little about life beyond my school years – life in Silicon Valley.
So how did I end up here? Well, an opportunity with work arose and in 2014 my family and I upped roots from London and moved to Silicon Valley. You have probably heard of Silicon Valley, or the ‘Bay Area’ but what is life really like living here?
Where better to start than on a subject that is polar opposite between Glasgow and California – the weather. We landed in November 2014, and on the first weekend we arrived we headed to the beach at Santa Cruz – very promptly getting sunburnt. Where we now live enjoys 255 days of sunshine a year, and I don’t mean a bit of sun peering through a cloud every so often, it’s pure blue skies for days on end.
Average rainfall is 18 inches per year (44 inches in Glasgow), but it seems to be getting drier. In 2021 the last day it rained was around mid-April and then not a drop of rain until the end of November. Even now as we hit end of February, there hasn’t been a drop of rain for 2 months now and nothing forecast. California is however officially in a drought, meaning high water prices, restrictions on usage and penalties for overuse.
Silicon Valley back in the late 1800’s was known for orchards and flowers, our hometown – Campbell – was the centre for canning and shipping fruit in the surrounding area. Fast forward to today and it’s a tightly packed strip of land (50 miles long by 15 miles wide) that runs from the southeast of San Francisco Bay, all the way down to San Jose.
It is quite literally a valley, framed on all sides by 3000ft hills and whilst you may not know its towns by name, you may recognise the tech companies associated with them. From the north down, Palo Alto (Facebook), Mountain View (Google), Sunnyvale (LinkedIn), Cupertino (Apple), Willow Glen (eBay) and Los Gatos (Netflix). Pretty impressive right?
Over the years The Valley has become more and more accessible (BA flights to San Francisco and San Jose) and acts as a great launch point to see the rest of California. Lake Tahoe is a 3.5 hour drive North East offering great skiing at multiple resorts. It’s also an absolute gem in summer with crystal clear water, beaches, hiking and biking, and all at a perfect 28 degrees from June until August. Yosemite is 185 miles to the east and even LA and San Diego are easy to drive to down long straight highways or a quick flight from San Jose. Closer to home, Santa Cruz (famous for surfing) is only a 45 minute drive with plenty of remote beaches to choose from.
With the good, however, comes the bad. The cost of living is incredibly expensive, if you go to the supermarket, one single bag of shopping will cost at least $50. The average family’s electricity and gas bill averages $500 a month in the hot and cold months and whilst petrol is still cheaper than in the UK, it has more than doubled in price over the past 6 years. The increased cost of living has led to much homelessness, and local crime has been exasperated by a recent Californian law meaning any shoplifting offence under $950 is declared a ‘misdemeanour’ effectively meaning the police won’t attend. In fact, there are a few viral videos you may have seen of shoplifters in San Francisco, casually walking out of stores with bin bags full of goods.
On a lighter note, sports is a big part of day to day life out here. Baseball is probably the biggest sport for kids with baseball fields found in most schools. Flag football is also popular (non-contact American football), but football (soccer) is on the increase with the San Jose Earthquakes becoming my new local team. We’ve also got my son involved in rugby, it’s not big yet but it’s definitely an up-and-coming sport with a Bay area club league playing from November to March. I’m one of the U10 coaches, purely because of my Scottish accent, as opposed to my ability (as my former 1989 classmates will attest). Outside of team sports, the surrounding hills make for amazing mountain biking and hiking which you can enjoy all year round.
All in all, it’s a pretty good quality of life. We feel very lucky to have the opportunity to be here, but I must confess, I do miss a pint on a rainy day in Byres Road. Can’t have it all can you?
Scott Massey, Class of 1989.