Chalk Head is a good friend of my son. When we were in San Francisco in December he rushed up in his loony way and announced he would be visiting us with his new wife, so Saturday there they were. Americans doing the World Tour, I must admit we Europeans get a bit snide, until we go to the States then it all makes more sense,
We were lucky it was a lovely day, sunny and bright and after a couple of months trolling thru Europe in clouds and rain they thought we lived in Paradise, or at least a Disney Cartoon with fluffy sheep, moo cows, oyster catchers and even the odd cuckoo drilling in the woods.
The boat yards are messy, and they looked a bit confused.
Contrast between spending time and money in the States - so it shows, and aiming for the understated awe shucks approach here - where a definite effort is made to look as if one really hasn't made an effort.
CH had an emergency appendectomy soon after they arrived in Bangkok, so the first week of their honeymoon was spent with him in hospital attached to tubes and wifey sleeping in a chair.
Fortunately he had taken out super duper health insurance- for the first time- so had millionaire treatment.
They showed us lovely pics of the Eiffel Tower and Gaudi's cathedral, Amsterdam's canals [as an ex bicycle messenger he was particularly taken with plethora of latter trilling their bells] but every shot was dripping with rain.
I could feel their pain. Husband No 1 lived here for years but could never come to terms with the interminable cloud cover, specially when we lived in Carlisle on the NW coast.
Probably only the wetter, greyer area is Wales, oh no Ireland is wetter I imagine.
Husband No1 was a New Yorker, [lower east side] thus had a volubly expressed opinion on the subject of British weather, especially after a 6 pack or 2 and spinning Dylan for a few days.
Now I live on the English East coast and it is often bright, but when we stayed in Reno I had a yearning to move next to g'son and relax under the clear blue skies, maybe find a coffee shop to show my work..........but I couldn't afford the health insurance.
1 comment:
Up here in Washington State we've developed webbed toes and rarely do native folks use umbrellas as we're so used to rain. During the past several decades raising home prices sent many people fleeing from warm and sunny California up north to were house prices and the cost of living was a fraction of what they were used to in sunnier climates. Many of these transplants felt so wretched after spending several years under gray skies that they began suffering from depression. Many opted to move to someplace warmer, still more chose to stay, drink more coffee and/or suppliment the weather with anti-depressents. Unfortunately, with the influx of people the housing prices in this area sky-rocketed, leaving many of us long time residents bewildered. Some were resentful, especially when listening to the transplants whine about the horrible weather. Sorry for the novel, but reading your post brought this all to mind. Cheers!
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