Hi
I was hoping to catch your attention in response to your posts in the Daveman thread !

I've been 'out of the loop' for a couple of weeks. Firstly I've been travelling, exploring parts of my own country I haven't seen for many years, and secondly I was lying low after my comments seemed to stir up more than intended.
(More of that in a moment)

Firstly thanks for the invitation. That would be great, though I'm not sure when it will happen.
I'm in the UK at the moment and next week am going to the island of Madeira for a couple of weeks. (Look in your atlases.....calm down Svermill!)

The house in Tx is for sale at the moment, but with the market being so slow, I'm not expecting anything to happen soon. When it does I'm coming over to load the KR Expy with all our personal possessions and containerise it back to the UK...I bet there won't be another of those in Wales !

We may come back in March simply to prepare the house for the long hot summer.

I think I know the steak house you are talking about.
La Pampa in Mcallen.
There was one opened in Brownsville first and we got to know the owners very well.
(They introduced us to Patron !)
La Pampa in Brownsville was so successful they opened the one in Mcallen.
If it wasn't the one you went to, then try it...the best tenderloin I've ever had anywhere in the world. Ask for Mario, or the owner Rafael.
(Have a patron and tell them to put it on Mr Weston's account)

(Thats not my name by the way..well not all of it, but reasons...you know!!)

Anyway, when we are there next I'll be in touch.

Now..Svermill.
I really didn't intend that topic to take off like that. I thought we had talked enough over the last couple of years for you to perhaps understand where I was coming from.
As I have previously said on many occasions.....I have been travelling to the States for 27 years and there are very few places over there I haven't visited. Most Americans I meet tell me I know the US better than they do.
I have always supported America and Americans.....especially when I am met by the usual prejudices that one does meet around the world about the US, and it's people.
(Just like Americans make assumptions about our teeth and food !!)

I always make the point that the Americans that we meet overseas are just not typical of the vast majority of those 'at home'.
Generally the Americans one meets for instance in London, are the ones with money, who talk rather loudly and make it very clear when standards do not match what they find at home. GENERALLY they give a bad impression.

For many years I was trying to tell friends here in the UK that this impression is just not true for all Americans.
My longest standing friend of 40 years has just been to the States for the first time. In all the years I have known him the only real idea he had of the US and its citizens was from the TV. He has at last now having been there told me that almost without exception the US citizens he has encountered, especially in Texas are the nicest people he has ever met.
That too is what I have been telling people for years.
Most people I meet are quietly spoken, god fearing, family orientated, very polite and very, very, hard working. (Much more committed to their jobs than most here in the UK)

The point I was trying to put across originally.....and probably not very well apparently, was that this impression is not best served by your country itself.

I take the point that I as a 'furriner' was criticising a country that I am only visiting.
However I do feel that with my experience perhaps a word or two might be of use.
I was involved in education most of my life and I have worked as a moderator for our public examination system...in that capacity teaching in and visiting hundreds of schools.
I have also been invited to visit schools in the US...dare I make a comparison?

Geography teaching (ie the rest of the world), is lamentable.
Do you know that twice in the last year I have been asked by assistants in stores where I came from. When I said England (Didn't dare mention Wales), they said...."Will you say something in your language?"

Unfortunately this extends to an older generation of people as well.....some of our own friends in the valley (Who have settled there from all over the States)who seem to be well spoken and are well off have a truely limited knowledge of the rest of the world.

The main point that I was making was that the world is changing probably more rapidly than any time since the industrial revolution..... and I'm not sure that America is either aware of it or ready for it.

At this point I have been told that my text is over 5000 words long..have to finish in next post !!!

 

Have you all fallen asleep...didn't realise I had written so much drivel.....


Anyway..here's the last bit.....(Sigh of relief from the US),


Look how many of your institutions are being bailed out by foreign nations that until quite recently were seen almost as insignificant...yes by me as well.

Our news though seems to be more outward looking and I think we are more aware of what is happening.

Please understand I wasn't being wholly critical, more suggesting that some people need a wake up call !!
I know that you travel widely and do have a world perspective, but you are in a very small minority.

If I don't reply to another onslaught in the near future then its because I am drinking myself to oblivion on port wine in Madeira.

I'll be back to face the music in 2 weeks !!

And I think I've written quite enough anyway !

 

Hi Lenny (Well, John really!),

Well I'm not so much into port wine, but right now I'd take a good dose of island life like a man, or go down trying. I do truly enjoy Colorado winters and the gently falling snow all day was quite a treat (especially since I didn't have to leave the home office all day -- no, not that Home Office Lenny).

In retrospect I surely took your post far too seriously John. It's not that big of a deal at the end of the day. Having spent extended periods of time in the mother/father lands of others, I can appreciate how one comes to develop a certain perspective not easily appreciated from within.

There are many reasons why so many in the States are less interested in world events than their international counterparts. I could easily exceed the 5,000 word post count limit on that topic but I'll go out of my way to fail to do so tonight. Surely it's worth mentioning that a top reason is that many are aware of how they are (or are not) regarded by the world populace and thus simply shut the outside off. It's easy enough to do with this much geography and an ocean along either side! And plenty to worry the mind with right here within their own borders.

I belong to a forum having to do with my chosen line of work. Generally speaking this is a fairly bright bunch. However, yesterday I was informed by a member that he was planning a trip to the Netherlands soon. I could not quite find the words to wish him well during his stay in..........

Brussels!

I guess he gets partial credit for proximity, but it's a damn good thing he won't be in need of a visa, or he might have some explaining to do (or, rather, to receive) upon arrival into the capital of Belgium.

So on that note I'll close and just envy your little island adventure a while...

 

Sort of reminds me of the time we went to a "parent-teacher" conference when my son was in high school in Pennsylvania. We mentioned to our son's home room high school teacher that we were planning to return to Arizona after I finished my tour (in the Air Force) at Willow Grove NAS and that he'd be attending the University of Arizona.

She nodded knowingly and said, "That's west of California isn't it?"

She became somewhat embarrased when we mentioned that would put us in the ocean, and said something to the effect that geography was not her strongest subject.

I've often wondered where she excelled academically, since she was teaching our youth....

- Jack

 

It just happens to be nearly 360 degrees west is all...

 

Or, head west, and make three left hand turns...

 

I don't' understand this thread so I won't comment...not my place, but I did hear that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line in the opposite direction.

That should clear up which direction anywhere is.

Cheers