Musings from America 6 - Thanksgiving

A unique American public holiday, the Last Thursday in November, 28 Nov this year, its interesting that unlike the UK where holidays get moved to the nearest Monday usually, this is celebrated on the day. A day which seems to gave an even greater significance than Christmas and is celebrated by all Americans. It comes from the event probably exaggerated over the years, when the first settlers, well the first white settlers possibly, were saved from starvation by the Native Americans by the meal of turkey. Unfortunately the courtesy and the humanity of the natives was later repaid by wholesale slaughter and theft of their lands..........is less remembered. Like most festivals the original concept has become rose-tinted over the years and it know is a celebration of "family" . Hence people trek across the country by plane and car to their family, it seems almost compulsory. Do not try and travel the days before or after unless you like delays at airports and jams and accidents on the road.

Anyway it was my first Thanksgiving and being that it is a black family I am associated with, some other cultural influences get incorporated. Turkey is still de rigeur but accompanying vegetables etc  owe much to African and especially Zimbabwean cuisine, though on this occasion the worms, locusts and other exotica are missing but oxtail does appear.

The kitchen is a scene of semi organised chaos as the 'head chef' or most likely several people who all believe they are in charge, give instructions, check others efforts and generally create an atmosphere of chaos, men are sent out to get missing items quite often double ordered by various people, there is the lady of the house, but her position is complicated by the presence of the Mama, a power struggle occurs but somehow resolves itself with the added contributions of the sisters etc .....

The American black people and the author and observer, are handicapped by the fast paced exchange of views, instructions etc in Shona whilst the new baby cries, sleeps and generally moves through the day unaffected, ..............think carefully young man, it will not be so long before you join the chaos.

Those sent shopping, ring in with queries and to receive new instructions, it seems certain some of the cooks will be disappointed but that pragmatism will prevail before the meal.

An enquiry elicits the information that some more people will be there later, it is unclear whether they are having the meal, but the quantity of food seems to indicate they will, a throw away line,  also predicts another batch of people in the evening .............

The TV adverts indicate that consumerism has not been ignored, sales and special deals, on the occasion known as Black Friday, start in the evening for many stores, so have dinner and about 8 pm you can start shopping. The stores that persist in staying shut on thanksgiving day, open at 6 am on the Frid, family gives way to bargain hunting and the advice is to avoid shops and malls until after the weekend at the earliest.

It is November and the sun is shining, though temperatures are low, here in Tennessee, snow is rare and brief, though further North, snow ploughs are out.

🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Everything went a bit quiet until the shoppers returned with what seemed some substantial extra purchases, the power play for Head chef resumed ......... I maintained my status as the silent observer, until the "meal is ready, help yourselves" was announced ..........the only missing bit was that the turkey and the ham had not be owned by anyone and were still cooking .........hunger moved my status to participant and the other chefs' leapt into action. The setting the table chefs having denied that they had any responsibility apart from vegetables and the oxtail.

I am however happy to report that the meal was excellent...............

Two additional relatives, please do not ask me to identify their actual relationships, were present, we watched some American football, or football as it is called here, the other game played throughout the world being soccer. I have a vague sense of the game but still cannot fathom out the roles, moves nor rules ......... anyway some, no most of the men departed, bowling, ten pin, not lawn, being the suspect, and quietness descended for a few hours, and some cake and pie, until about 8pm a bus load arrived, some were known from previous gatherings, some attached in ways unknown to those, I think. Some greeted me as a long lost friend, but no one offered their name ..........drinks were dispensed and platters of food kept the microwave busy. The conversation levels, in Shona of course, this being the Nashville Diaspora, increased, the baby seemed to have genes attuned and was little troubled by his position, various ladies heaping attention, even when the dancing to loud music started. I, on the other hand made my apologies and retired upstairs, to write this blog and listen to some proper music from the golden ages of the sixties and seventies on my headphones ........sometimes you just have to admit to being a grumpy old unsociable man.

Musings from America 5 - Cars, Bureaucracy and Postmen

America is truly the place of the car, OK Herr Daimler may have been the first, but the USA has embraced them fully. It may be to do with distance but virtually every family has two or more cars, you rarely see anyone walking, apart from the car to the mall.

Now I thought I knew about car models, but clearly my European perspective missed out on the brands available and even where the brand is known, there are unheard of models.

So Scion is unique as is Plymouth, Buick, Ram trucks, though they are part of Dodge who has a few UK models, Cadillac known but rarely seen in UK ...........there are Japanese and Korean, so Toyota is big, Hyundai, Honda, Nissan are commonly sighted, ........ though the latter is pronounced Neesan, .........are all present but no sign of Renault, Citroen or other individualistic marques, but Volvo is here on a small scale, BMW, Mercedes and some Jaguars and even Range Rovers.

Since Fiat bought out Dodge and Jeep there are dealers selling Fiats now, though I have not seen many on the road. Most Americans seem to be in the "big is beautiful" sector, so whilst in the UK, Toyota's big saloon, sedan in American, is the Camry, here there are larger models like the Avalon. But look at the SUV range, UK and USA has the Rav4, though the model I saw seems to be ahead of UK ones, but here there are three bigger SUVs, a Highlander around the Jeep Grand Cherokee size and two more above that.

 Now I like big cars but have to admit I have met my ceiling in that regard, I have on hire a Chevy Suburban as mentioned previously and after a few weeks, I now pronounce it too big, too wide, too long, anything that can make a big Jeep or a Range Rover a standard SUV, with mid and full size above is really big, unless of course you are on the Interstate surrounded with three 18 wheeler artics, (say semi) in the pouring rain, then it seems marginally better, no idea how a Fiat 500 would feel ! 

This has three rows of seats and then luggage space, thankfully the parking spaces are equally wide and long.

I have however had my first and hopefully last encounter with the Police, due to a slight collision with a small Toyota Corolla, minor damage only but the police were called and turned up in about 30 minutes, with blue lights, we were off the road and safe.

Being fair I did not encounter the attitude that you see on TV and Films sometimes, and they coped with my UK licence and that I had no insurance certificate, people carry both everywhere, fine, they took details and then retreated to the patrol car for 20 minutes at least, leaving the other party and I having a pleasant conversation. Maybe I was being checked with Interpol ....... no idea but they came back and gave us a notice of the rights of citizens, you have to pay later for a full report, government agencies everywhere find ways of separating citizens from their spare cash.

I assume I am not being charged, as I never got the American Miranda caution, in the British tradition, I expressed reject but did not admit fault, though as I hit her from behind that may well count. I reported to Car hire people who were severely underwhelmed, I still have the car, but sent in an accident report.

Now that in itself is a triumph of form over function, imagine a form, barely 4 inches x 5 ( no metric stuff over here) crammed with tiny boxes to fill in detailed information, some of which was repeated in another section and unless you have tiny writing impossible.

I went UDI and typed a report covering most of the information requested, and the submitted this with my customer feedback as above.

Then the bureaucracy of Dollar Car Hire became more frustrating, you have various numbers for Customer Service, breakdown, renewal etc, I had a number for the branch but that was not answered and circulated back to the call centre. All I wanted to know was where to send this, I assumed there might be an email, wrong, I assumed the call centre would be able to advise, I guess I am not the first customer to have a prang ................but advice and helpful information was lacking and the website needs a new design and some more useful information.

As a result I printed the report, put in an envelope and posted to the Branch from which the car came. So far no reply, they are probably writing to me in the UK ! 

At least I got a chance to try out the US Postal Service, same queues, same one person open, the others closed ....... but at least a new experience. There are no postboxes, I believe you can give letters to the postman who comes round in his van, stopping at your post box which is on the edge of the property. No he does not get out, he delivers through his window and then drives on, so you must not park in front of someone's letter box.

Still an interesting experience and this continues, trips to Memphis and The Smokey Mountains to come, maybe a trip on a riverboat. More things to discover I am sure.