Baby talk

A chance word at Holy Eucharist this evening gave me the idea for another installment of the main theme of this blog.

My wife was holding the baby, literally, as a church member had brought along her six-week old son and Gail immediately gave mother a break by holding him throughout the service. Young Timothy started to whimper during our monthly, informal evening service of Eucharist with Healing, so his mother passed Gail a pacifier [dummy].

During the supper which followed (our Vicar had made a truly excellent vegetarian black bean soup), baby talk showed up some other "same language-different words" for common baby items. Gail fortunately did not have to undo Timothy’s babygro [onesie] to change his nappy [diaper], but she did have to wind [burp] him. Nor did she have to push his buggy or the older version “pushchair”, [stroller] or put him to bed in his cot [crib] or Moses basket [bassinet]. When Timothy is old enough to ride his first bike [cycle] he will probably need stabilizers [training wheels] and when his parents need a night out they will need the services of a baby sitter [child minder].

As much as I enjoyed our Vicar's soup, the icing [frosting] on the cake at tonight's supper was the inclusion of some ginger nut [ginger snap] biscuits [cookies] - yummee [yummee]!

Christmas is coming . . . .

On Thursday of last week we received our fist Christmas card. Admittedly it was from England, although why so early I have no idea. I'm sure this is the earliest ever. Unlike when living in Spain when we had a card delivered in April (just in time for Easter). No, that wasn't early, it was late!

On Friday we received our second! There was a good excuse for this as the senders, dear English friends, had posted the card in England en route to the ferry on the first part of their road trip to southern Spain where they, and their cat (who has her own passport), are spending three months in their beautiful home in Torreblanca. Experienced in Spanish life, they too, are aware of the failings of the Spanish postal service, so made sure that their card to us bore an English, rather than Spanish postmark!

Although we have, as yet, sent no cards, to England, Spain or anywhere else, we have sent the package of Christmas gifts to our Norfolk, England family. Our reasoning was threefold: we already had the gifts; it included an early December birthday gift; and we wanted to beat the bottleneck we know that the Royal Mail suffers pre-Christmas.

The US Postal Service, as usual, excelled themselves. Our daughter emailed us to let us know that the package had arrived in five days. Credit where credit is due.

Library visit and a sense of smell

I've always been an avid reader and consequently I always have had a "love-affair" with books. Not only the content, you understand, but also the actual item. Perhaps this influenced my decision to choose the printing industry as a career. When conducting visitors on tours of the book-printing plant I worked in for all of 35 years, I often astounded them with the enthusiastic statement, "the smell of a new book, turns me on"! It still does. Borders, Barnes & Noble and the like may try to disguise this by the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, but it doesn't fool me. I can still breath in that combination of paper, ink and binding adhesive. It comes a close second to the scent of freshly baked bread or newly mown grass.

Alas, the same cannot be said for public libraries. They have a unique aroma and in my experience it is an international condition. I cannot remember never being a library member. We were when in England, in Spain, and didn't waste any time signing up when coming to live in North Carolina. Of course the digital age has changed the layout of many such establishments. Vast amounts of space are now taken up by audio books, CDs, DVDs and of course by many, many computers.

We have the choice of several branches, but we prefer the trip downtown to the main county library, where there is an enormous choice of the written word to be digested. It also carries copies of Trains magazine which I enjoy reading but have never got round to subscribing to. Our regular three-weekly visit was scheduled for Wednesday, but without any prior notice we found it to be closed for the day - staff meeting. Okay, while we were in the vicinity I took the opportunity to pay our annual property tax [council tax] and rescheduled our visit for Thursday.

With respect to librarians, they are one of those breed of workforce that are "born, not made". I know I can be accused of stereotyping here, but I'm speaking from experience over many years and many libraries, in Norfolk England, Benalmádena Spain, and now here in Durham North Carolina. Don't take this the wrong way, this is not a criticism (although a small minority are less than helpful), just an observation.

So what am I saying here? Hardly any differences between public libraries in England, Spain and North Carolina? Actually, no, there isn't. I'm not sure though how many books one is allowed at a time now in Norfolk County libraries (it was 8 when we lived there). In Spain it was a meagre 4, but our wonderful Durham County Library allow us 50, yes fifty, at one time - that's books, audio books and CDs! Just how the most enthusiastic reader would get through this amount in the three week checkout period I'm not sure. I usually borrow four books, one a week plus a spare. Perhaps I'm not such an avid reader as I thought I was!

I never did find out what that meeting was about. My usual charitable wife did remark, after a encounter with a particularly sourly staff member, that it certainly wasn't a training session on "How to greet customers with a smile"! No coment.

History is made - 2nd (and final) update

Okay, it's now official. The North Carolina presidential ballot was won by Barack Obama. Apparently there were not enough remaining ballots for Republican John McCain to close a 13,693-vote deficit. Therefore, the Democrats gained a clean sweep in all positions - Presidential and State

Now I can back to my blog theme of comparing everyday living in NC to Europe in general and England in particular.

History is made - update

Only one state, North Carolina, has yet to confirm whether it's Presidental vote was red (Republican) or blue (Democrat). Apparently 40,000 votes cast were "unconfirmed" and each and every one has to be checked for authenticity. Even though Barack Obama has about 14,000 votes more than John McCain, it's too close to call. Amazingly, it will not be confirmed officially until November 24th!

And I am pleased to report, and I'm sure you are pleased to hear, that the jigsaw puzzle pictured yesterday was completed by my better half - despite the help(?) she received from Nimbus 2000!

Big cat puzzle

History is made

It’s 3pm here in North Carolina and although after all the excitement unfolding before our eyes on TV last evening, we remain one of two states in which the presidential race hasn't been decided. The result is too close to call in this, the Tar Heel state (the other is Missouri).

Despite this Barack Obama piled up a 349 to 162 lead in electoral votes over John McCain. As 270 electoral votes are needed to win the presidency we do know that Barack Obama is our President Elect. North Carolina has 15 electoral votes and apparently it could be some time before they are decided, even though Senator McCain trails Obama by 11,000 votes (out of over million).

The Democrats had a clean sweep for other offices in the State Legislature, including the Governor . . . . . and the proposed Food Tax for our fair city was heavily defeated — good news (for now).

Meanwhile, our eleven-year old kitty, Nimbus 2000, pictured below, couldn't give a hoot - she's seen it all before!

Did you really expect to complete that jigsaw puzzle today? =^..^=

An historic day?

It’s here at last! After twenty months, countless speeches, goodness knows how many hours of TV coverage and advertising, Election Day has finally arrived. Americans are up for this one. Of that there is no doubt. Millions have voted early and long lines [queues] are expected at polling stations around the nation today.

To continue my theme of differences between here and England the US Presidential Election is a prime example. Obviously there is no such thing in England, but I suppose the equivalent is a General Election. A similar term of office is served both by the American President and the British Prime Minister (although the former is four years while the latter, normally about the same time, can call an election at almost any time before five years). I was going to say that the English, together with their Scottish, Welsh and (Northern) Irish neighbors don’t actually vote for a Prime Minister directly - the only voters who have anything like a chance of that are those living in the prospective PM’s constituency. Although at first glance it looks as if here voters do, that’s not exactly the case; the complicated (to me) business of the Electoral College does that, so to a certain extent it’s an indirect vote here. However, all voters have the chance to vote for one of the Presidential Candidates.

Although we are, as yet, unable to vote here, I do realize things are very different. The last time we voted in person in England was in 2001 in local elections. The small village hall was the venue (open, as all polling stations, from I believe 7am until 9pm) and manned by two officials plus the statutory police officer. The voting paper had at most six names, if that and an officially provided soft pencil (attached by a piece of string to the polling booth) was all that was allowed to mark your voting slip.

Here the number of polling station officials is enormous; I’m not sure about the police officer though. The voting paper is Letter size (8.5”x11”) and contains not only the presidential candidates but those for State and more local offices as well as some local issues. For example, our local County voting papers will have also the candidates for State Governor, Lieutenant Governor (a sort of Vice Governor), candidates for the US Senate, the US House of Representatives, State Treasurer, etc. A highly charged local issue is for voters to decide whether they accept the proposal by our City Council to apply a 1% “Prepared Food Tax”. This would apply to restaurants, fast food outlets, delis, etc. (Not popular in this household)! Some States are also including much more important issues than a 1% Food Tax on their ballot papers - same sex marriage, abortion, etc.

Another difference here is the very size of the country. The polls close here in NC (Eastern Time) three hours before those in California (Pacific Time).

I, like millions of others, will be sitting in front of the TV this evening watching the drama unfold. The long campaign has certainly been tiring but at times entertaining and often frustrating. Today’s result will no doubt have an effect on us all – let’s hope America has chosen wisely.

God Bless America!