Morn (and evening) in the USA Part the Final

At some point, I demanded, nay expected to go and have a classic American Burger, my only criteria being that I’d like something to see me through the day, instead it kept me full for two whole days.  To begin with though you have to start off with the ordeal that is the choice, we don’t get that in England, you pick your meal and you eat it.  The unwritten rules clearly state that you may ask for something to be taken off your meal but that is all.

Imagine my surprise when Christina asks for half the stuff to be taken off hers and a lot more stuff be added, thus changing the entire burger to something else not actually on the menu.  What insanity is this?   Then I was assailed from all angles with choice: different sides, extra stuff, desserts, how I liked things done. I was ready for the food after that trial.

When I was asked if I wanted Jo Jos, I had to query what they actually were, then immediately fall back on the old apology, “sorry, I’m English”, which in all fairness C. got in there first.  Quite a few times.  Sometimes a bit to quickly.  I hasten to add I didn’t ask what they were

 

Morn (and evening) in the USA Part 2

It is another beautiful afternoon, only a few wispy clouds in the sky, not a lost shark to worry the ducks and what do Christina and I spot aways up the river but a fine looking paddle steamer that is handily situated near one of those seats that swing with a judicious and timely push of either, or both if you live on the edge, of your feet.

Being an ignorant European, I have only associated these boats with the South, or to be more precise on the Mississippi so to see one outside of it’s natural habitat was a bit of a shocker.  After waiting an hour for it to depart I had the opportunity to watch and to take photos of Christina filming the now mobile boat, heading down river.  I’m odd like that.

The river was one of our favourite haunts, everyone was chilled and passing by, in no rush to be anywhere, even the joggers came back past us like confused over sugared children.  it wasn’t just the obscenely good weather but it did help make me happy and the squirrels, I counted 12 different squirrels in five minutes over a 60 metre radius.  This doesn’t amount to anything shocking over there, over in England however, when we see a bit of nature and everyone freezes and watches it until someone blunders in and spoils the scene and we all go on our way again, but a little more human than before.

 

Morn (and evening) in the USA Part 1

Arriving amidst the ear popping of altitude changes, I appeared mostly deaf for my first 15 or so minutes on American turf but it got better rapidly after enthusing, in a probably to loud voice about how foreign everything was, (this included the width of the road, the car door handles and how weird it was to be barreling down the wrong side of the road, yet oddly it was the actual physical right side of the road.

The book love transcends continents, although these are Christina’s, I helped pick.

It’s quite difficult to order my thoughts into some coherent chronological statement of my adventure,  suffice to say that the weather was perfect, always around 30C or 80F if that be your measurement of climate.  So totally different from England and its incessant rain.  Having said that my first glimpse of America from the ground in Minneapolis was shrouded in fog and….snow, so it was like a home from home in that respect.

 

U.S Hey!

I could have gone to the U.S for a touristy holiday, I could have gone for a huge burger but instead I went for the American experience (and a huge burger).  So what better way to immerse myself in everyday life than to share it with a fantastic and typically American family.

Spending time with Christina, Penny, Jordan, Jack, Emma and assorted cohorts and pets (four cats and two dogs), I chose to subsume myself not only in the culture but also, and totally unintentionally I might add, a character study of the dynamics of the family unit.

 

My Favourite 100 Books

Well, 105, but that’s what you get with this blog, free gifts are the best.  You may have been expecting posts about my trip to America but as jet lag is still making my head funny, you shall be treated to this instead, with proper posts coming soon, tomorrow or Sunday at the latest…

So anyway this is an ‘at this moment in time’ list, as it changes depending on what I am thinking of, so as a consequence this has to be done in no particular order…

1. Landscape and Memory – Simon Schama
2. The Coral Island – R. M Ballantyne
3. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
4. Moonfleet – John Meade Falkner
5. Three Men in a Boat – Jerome K Jerome
6. King Solomon’s Mines – H. Rider Haggard
7. The Pickwick Papers – Charles Dickens
8. Christmas Books – Charles Dickens
9. Endymion Spring – Matthew Skelton
10. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
11. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
12. The Story of England – Michael Wood
13. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
14. Baudolino – Umberto Eco
15. The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco*
16. The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
17. Batavia’s Graveyard – Mike Dash*
18. The Yacoubian Building – Alaa Al Aswaany
19. Teacher, Teacher – Jack Sheffield
20. Existentialism and Humanism – Jean Paul Sartre

 

Corn in the USA

I haven’t been on for the last couple of days…or months if you count it up in dog years…probably.

Well there is a reason for that, for I am off to Washington state to catch up with Christina, Penny and family.

To soften the blow of being without me for two/two and a half weeks, here is a true picture of me enjoying some literature.

It is a good read, there are diagrams and if you worry your fish has glazed eyes, it is most likely fin/tail./mouth rot.

Anyway I could spend all night critiquing the joys of Common Fish Diseases but really I need to get on and pack up the remaining stuff that is looking sad because it hasn’t been stuffed into a bag.

So all comments and stuff from previous posts shall be answered on my return from that far off land of skateboarding, shiny things and…um…The Clinton’s.  Until then have a good ‘un whilst I find some amusing situations to get myself into, involving the misuse of language, lack of cultural skills and perplexity at the lack of bowler hats and copies of The London Times.

 

More In Than Out

So tonight, the writing mood takes me…strange as it is though I am devoid of ideas, you may think this odd (as I do) for there are so many worlds, time periods, characters, perspectives, writing styles….etc, etc to choose from, how can I fail to find an idea?

Imagination at it’s Peaks

This, it has to be said, is the very point, I cannot devote myself to one thing long enough without my mind wandering to all the vast cornucopia of unexplored ideas.  Those of you who have been around this page of the web for a while will probably know that I bounce around topics a lot, forming obscure links between random people and things and constantly setting off new trains of thought and this is distracting, like eating a burger and wondering which mouthful contains the horse.