Smorgasbord Posts from My Archives – Letters from America 1985-1987 – Adventures in the USA – 1985 – Poolside chats, Spaghetti Bolognese and Irish Jokes – by Sally Cronin

Last week I shared some of the experiences we were enjoying as we settled into our new life in Houston including Corpus Christi, Beach Encounters and English Accent

This week I get to meet some of the residents of our complex who are treated to a family secret recipe and David’s wealth of Irish Jokes…

Poolside chats, Spaghetti Bolognese and Irish Jokes

27th March 1985

Dear M & D

A cloudy day so an ideal time to get my letters written. It has been very hot this week and my tan is progressing very nicely. I spend quite a bit of time with my friend Vicki and here is a photo that David took at the pool a few weeks ago when her mother was over for a visit. I will send more now that we have found a place to have the films developed.

Sitting by the pool has also given me the opportunity to chat to some other girls who don’t work for one reason or another or are on shifts. We have a great time finding out about our respective countries. The one thing you will notice here is that there are very few films or television dramas about England. This is clearly why the general impression about England is about the Queen… London and the weather. Those I speak to think that England is in the grip of an ice-age with rain daily and I suppose that we English do tend to give that impression. The Brits here that I have met talk incessantly about the weather including the rain at home. So entirely our fault for creating that misconception. After all it only rains every other day!

I was slightly surprised, when one girl of about 17 that I met, asked me if we have universities in England. It just goes to show that what presence we do have in America is limited and not very impressive. Perhaps rock stars and others in the entertainment industry that are visible in the media here are only showing one side of our talents!

David has been to St. Louis this week and as he had a couple of hours to kill, he went up into the Gateway Arch which is a monument to all the settlers that headed west in search of a new life on the Oregon Trail. (Just think Daddy if they hadn’t done that you would not have all your favourite John Wayne movies). The arch is made of stainless steel and at its highest point is 630 feet and has a tram running inside. There are observation windows at the top which gave David a magnificent view right up the Mississippi river.

Unfortunately he had a long flight back with lots of delays, and I eventually picked him up at 10pm last night, three hours late.

I had a minor accident on Saturday. We had just come out of a bookshop, and clasping my purchases to my bosom, I made for the car. I was wearing an open pair of mules with a 1″ heel as I have not got around to buying any proper sandals yet. I am embarrassed to say that I fell off them, landing in a crumpled heap at David’s feet, in front of a very busy restaurant, with my skirt flying up over my head. Thank goodness I was wearing fancy underwear. They must have thought I was drunk and David sort of hauled me up and virtually carried me to the car and deposited me in the passenger seat. Turns out I have pulled a ligament and twisted my ankle.

This meant we had a static weekend but I am now able to walk short distances and I am thankful for this almost automated apartment… no standing around doing washing up etc. Luckily it is my left foot which means I can still drive and hobble around the supermarket.

As a result of the injury I have been watching more television and I mainly stay on the movie channels as there are no adverts. Most of the others interrupt the programme every 10 minutes. I watched the Oscar awards the other night and because it was prime time viewing they had long advert breaks every 6 or 7 minutes. It took three days to watch it!

David is going overnight to Dallas tomorrow. I am giving it a miss this time as we want to save for Easter weekend when he has four days off. We thought we would go to New Orleans which is only 400 miles away and we both want to experience the Jazz first hand. I am also going to join him in San Diego in April and perhaps a Florida trip. So important that we see as much as we can of this amazing country.

Before I forget… Daddie’s Spaghetti Bolognese is going down very well.. We have had a few neighbours over for dinner in the last few weeks, and I was asked which brand of sauce I bought.. They were very impressed when I told them that I made my own to a secret family recipe. As you know David has a massive library of Irish jokes which also go down very well. Bearing in mind the misconceptions about English weather I am making a determined effort never to mention it.. it is very hard!

And our permanent driving licenses have arrived.. hysterical. It is the size of a credit card with our photos and address on the front. They are an essential form of identification here and you cannot cash or sign a cheque for goods unless you have one. I mentioned at the time of the test that I was dreading what the photo looked like as I had been traumatised by Officer Rodriquez… I was justified as I look like an escaped lunatic. One consolation is that David’s is even worse and he had a great big black smudge across his face…

Anyway, will write again and tell you all about our New Orleans trip after Easter.

love from us both.. S &D XX

©sallycronin 2017

Thank you very much for dropping in and I hope you continue to enjoy our adventure in Texas and trips we made around America during our time there. Next week my article that I wrote about out trip to New Orleans.