Confidential to Mr. Smearcase
Dear Mr. S, I know. I've read some old Austin media, and one thing that interested me was finding out how prevalent and consistent the "Austin is nothing like it used to be" feeling has been ever since the early eighties. But, all that aside, it's still Austin, and I still miss it. Very much.
Myself, I left Austin because I was perfectly happy there. I guess, like you, I needed out of the Velvet Rut. I can't move back in the foreseeable future for reasons we have discussed. But I think YOU should, and X should, and I will spend months out of the year there with you, if I can bring my cat.
The only bad thing about Austin is its blue-island status. And that's a bad thing. If you ever leave Austin. If you never cross the city limits, the worst that could happen is the island could grow smaller and smaller and more and more cordoned off until you basically can't leave Hyde Park. Hypothetically, that's a risk I'd be willing to take.