The American Dream

What an eventful week this has been in this here United States of America. Or, as some commentators are saying, the Divided States of America. More on that later.

At home, still in a Halloween frame of mind, Martha and William dressed up appropriately for Saturday morning kick boxing.

They also go swimming on a Saturday morning. I just hope they washed the make-up off before diving in the pool.

Here’s a very Alaskan thing we don’t see very often. Icicles on a car. Not to be confused with the 1980s band of the same name.

Here’s a very Alaskan thing we don’t see very often. A trumper driving around with a trailer carrying nothing but Trumpy, MAGA flags, Take America Back flags and nothing else.

This was the day we visited REI and I bought some new, snowproof, boots. While I went for a walk to test them out, Liesel was working in the office with Amrit. And, I’m sure, not at all looking at the view of the mountains.

As usual, my feet really don’t like boots, there’s always one seam that rubs, in this case on my ankle bones where the skin is really thin. Still, I hiked to the library and on to the midtown branch of New Sagaya where I rewarded myself with a coffee. Despite the snow, it was good to see families with children in the playground. It was cold, about freezing, but nobody was bothered and I was wearing an extra layer plus a scarf and a hat that covered my ears. I picked out the ideal Christmas tree for our apartment at home.

But I must admit, I did enjoy plodding through deep virgin snow with my new footwear, a true test of their waterproof properties.

I walked back to the office and once Liesel finished working, she drove me home. I spontaneously started singing the old Johnny Cash song, Ring of Fire, and then I realised Liesel had turned on my heated seat. Very nice having a warm derriere, even though I hadn’t realised it was all that cold.

We drove home via the Post Office at the airport, where Liesel posted some communications from work. The level crossing lights were flashin, so we stopped and I expeceted to see a train to pass by in front of us. Oh no, this is Alaska.

Leslie returned home from visiting Aaron where she’d enjoyed a football game featuring her team, the Oregon Ducks.

And in the evening we had visitors. Una came over bearing goodies and so did Gita and their close friend Sam, who I’d not met before. Gita provided the hot toddies, making for a very pleasant evening. They prepared a chicken dish for the carnivores while I had Quorn roast and roast potatoes. My broccoli was mistakenly subsumed into the chicken dish, oops!

Una brought chocolates modelled into a small graveyard: very artistic and very tasty.

It’s General Election year here in USA and early voting is a big thing. Liesel, Leslie and I walked up to the City Hall where they queued for over three hours to cast their vote.

By the end of the day, one of the other voters was calling Leslie ‘Granny’, someone was told to remove their MAGA cap, there were three dogs, and someone phoned their grandchild to say they were in line at Disneyland. Mean. The queue wound its way through the building, emerging to the outside world for a bit, before going back indoors.

I went for a quick walk to buy something and then I walked home. It was nice to see The Sun in Anchorage. Not just the real Sun up in the sky, but this one:

The Anchorage Light Speed Planet Walk starts here. It’s a scale model of our solar system. Taking the walk, you experience the relative size of the planets and their distance from the Sun. The scale was chosen so that a leisurely walking pace mimics the speed of light. On this scale, each step equals the distance light travels in one second (300,000 kilometers or 186,000 miles). It should take about 8 minutes to walk from the Sun station at 5th and G to the Earth station at 5th and K, just as it takes 8 minutes for a light beam to travel from the real Sun to the real Earth. It would take 5½ hours to walk all the way to Pluto, located in Kincaid Park. Yes, poor old Pluto is still considered a planet here. Cycling, skate-boarding or skiing would of course mean you’re travelling faster than the speed of light.

I received Liesel’s message at home I walked back into the city where we all met up and had dinner in Humpy’s, next door to the City Hall. I’d not been before, but neither had Liesel, despite having lived in Anchorage for many years. I didn’t expect to eat all of my meal: American portions are just too big. This time, I did manage: veggie burger and chips, since you ask. We were again joined by Una.  It was MNF. Monday Night Football on TV and, while the adverts were on, we listened out as someone behind the bar called out raffle prize numbers. Not ours though. Una was kind enough to drive us home afterwards, so we didn’t have to walk in the dark.:

Election Day and while the rest of the country was voting for a President who will work for foreign dictators, fossil fuel advocates and billionaires but not for ordinary Americans, women, journalists, the LGBT+ community, public service workers, immigrants, environmental advocates, scientists etc, guess where I was? In court.

Yes, Una invited me to watch a trial this week, and who could refuse an opportunity to watch a real life Judge Judy in action? From the observers’ seat at the back, I admired the artwork in Una’s courtroom. Two lawyers sat in front of me, standing to question the witnesses. I’ve probably watched too many US TV dramas, so I just assumed the attorney wearing the black suit was the baddie, the one with the light coloured attire was the good guy.

Whenever they approached the bench to consult the judge, it was very hard to hear what they were saying while the courtroom was filled with white noise. I noticed that the jurors didn’t take notes, but a lot of information was elicited from the witnesses. I was here as an interested bystander, so it didn’t matter if my mind wandered from time to time, but Una has to concentrate fully at all times. Although she was sitting higher than everyone else, she still looked small behind the XXL bench, but that didn’t affect the authority she displayed.

I found a couple of moments of real confrontation hard to cope with, but that’s why I’m not a lawyer. And the other awkward moments were when the judge came in and left: as an observer, was I supposed to stand like everyone else did?

The session ended at about 1.30 after which I walked home, passing by a couple of cranes on the way.

Late in the afternoon, we drove back to the airport, this time to collect Jyoti who’d flown in from North Carolina. Back at her place, she prepared our evening meal, dahl and rice, and we were joined by Gita and their friend Sophia. Una and Phil were persuaded to join us too, and we had a good time, not merely because Gita again plied us with hot toddies!

Things are changing in America, and not just politically. In the olden days, maybe even last year, if you said ‘Thank you’, the response would be, ‘You’re welcome.’ Nowadays, the response is more likely to be, ‘Of course.’ And no, it doesn’t sem to be only young people either.

The day after Election Day, we walked back to City Hall to register our disgruntlement at the result. No, actually, we returned so that Leslie could retrieve the walking stick she’d mistakenly left in the polling booth a couple of days ago. It was warmer today, a scorching 4°C so the ice on the sidewalks was more slick than it had been yesterday. I acquired some grips for my shoes, and they are so much better than the cheapo cleats supplied by Royal Mail all those years ago. They actually stay on my trainers.

It was nice of Star the reindeer to come out and see us today: he’s usually in the backroom watching reruns of Friends, or something.

I stayed at home with Leslie while Liesel went out for coffee with Diane, visiting from Talkeetna, and a few more hours hard labour in the office with Amrit.

I think I know who my Dad would have voted for on what would have been his 99th birthday, if he were still alive and if he were American.