Subject: Wa Wa's adventures in the land of the 'brave' and the home of the 'free'.
Well, the Aussie dollar is certainly being battered by the bloody greenback. Fifty six, no, fifty five, no I'll give you 54 cents for that goldie. Aaaargh.
So far I have frozen my butt off in Montreal, Vermont, New York and Virginia. I even shovelled 2 metric tonnes of snow off a verandah in Vermont, which apart from the upper body work out also gave my calf muscle a spot of much needed exercise.
When asked how I hurt my ankle, I receive blank stares at the mention of a strange sport called 'indoor criggit'. When I try to explain this wonderful game and mention Test cricket, a game lasting five days and sometimes without result, they think I am pulling their leg. One Yank even asked me 'Five days without a break?' as if it is 24/5. Really.
The Canadians of Montreal are descended from the French, and at the risk of insulting any Partridge Famulee member who happens to have Francophile blood, they are as arrogant as the people from whence they originated. Anyway, their country sucked, their goods and services are overtaxed (with Federal and Quebecois tax it runs to about 15%) and their weather is foul. I have never been so cold in all my life. And don't even start me on their ability to properly sign their roads. We were lost about 5 times in all.
Vermont was very nice and we spent a white New Year's Eve with a 2 foot dump of snow. The Vermonter's idea of an outdoor sport on New Year's Day, in the way an Australian famulee grabs the bat and ball for some criggit, is to dig out a square of ice and play hockey. Others excavate a larger area and open ice skating rinks.
Driving is a continuing adventure. Indicators are an option and I don't think some Americans even realise what the stalk on the left hand side of the steering column is for. This morning while stopped at an intersection turning left, faced with a continuing stream of traffic coming towards me, the ditzy blonde in the car behind me honked her horn for 5 seconds then made faces in my rear vision mirror as if to say "I cannot believe you didn't dodge into that hole in the traffic between those two semi trailers". Unfortunately, given the second amendment right to bear arms and the Americans' love of guns, it is not a good idea to get out of your car and tell even ditzy blondes what you think of them. So I just said a loud 'F**k you' to Howard Stern on the radio. So far this year, in the Washington area alone, there have been 6 shooting deaths.
I have mastered driving in snow and ice. It is frightening at times with semis all around you and the car telling you it has 'low traction' but after a while you feel secure in the knowledge that you have unlimited medical insurance and your will is somewhere in Australia (not that I would care if it came to that).
New York was brilliant, Carla and I arrived there the day after it had snowed and left a day before it started snowing again. Central Park was white and people were making snowmen and sleighing down the hills. We walked 35 blocks down Madison Avenue and caught buses up and down Fifth and Park. The Waldorf is a good hotel and I would recommend it to any visiting millionaire.
Tonight we are driving to Colonial Williamsburg and visiting Jamestown (first settlement in 'cold old Virginia' as the Afro American Customs officer in LA called it) and also Yorktown, where the Americans finally beat the British in the Revolution. Apparently the weather there is warmer, perhaps 18 degrees Celcius. Next weekend we drive to Philadelphia to check out the Amish community and other things.
That's it for me. Please send it to all of the Famulee for their amusement and I may write again next week.
