Smorgasbord Posts from My Archives – Letters from America 1985-1987 -July 4th 1985 Celebrations, Mechanical Bulls and Tennis

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Welcome to the next post in the series Letters from America 1985 -1987 that I wrote home to my parents in the UK. My father kept them all in a folder and on his death they came back to me with a note to publish them.

July 4th 1985 Celebrations, Mechanical Bulls and Tennis

6th July 1985

Dear M & D,

Thank you for your letter that arrived today. It’s lovely that you can come out earlier in November which is only 4 months away. Hopefully you will be able to read this letter without trying to decipher my handwriting. David has bought me this typewriter so that I can get on with my short stories and hopefully get them published one day. To be honest I cannot see that happening. It is so difficult to get a publisher to look at anything unless you are Wilbur Smith or Harold Robbins, but who knows what the future holds. In the meantime I shall put it to good use by writing to you.

This week we went over to the Greenspoint Mall to get a good view of the 4th July Firework display. I know that they were very pleased to kick us Brits out 200 years ago, but we didn’t see why we should not sneak into the celebrations and make the most of it.

We started off at T.G.I Friday’s… which was the first restaurant we ate in when we arrived here in Houston. We enjoyed a margarita before tucking into some jumbo shrimp (you will love them when you visit…. think size of half a lobster and spicy dipping sauce). We then sat on the bonnet of the car and watched the display… fabulous and must have cost a fortune! I am sure there was more explosives used in the space of an hour than in the entire war effort to get rid of us in 1783.

I have just realised that you will be here for our anniversary which is fantastic. Perhaps we will take you down to the Cowboy bar Gilly’s and get you to ride the mechanical bull, you’ll like that. Not a lot!! However, it is fun to watch everyone else riding it. I lasted 8 seconds last time before being thrown, and I almost won a belt buckle. I must keep practicing. You never know when that sort of skill will come in useful!

I have been baby-sitting for the last week for a young couple who both work and they cannot get their little girl into kindergarten until next week. It is only for three hours a day whilst the mother is at work, and it has been fun. Tracy is a very sweet little girl and loves to have stories read to her. Vicki recommended me to them and they wanted to pay me but I am just happy to help out. I am finding that they have a very strong family and community spirit here which is great and I know if I needed some help it would be offered without asking. Anyway, it is an excuse to make up some more children’s stories.

Vicki and her baby Megan are doing really well and plan to move next week. I shall really miss them and Vicki’s company. But she has introduced me to a lot of people who are very friendly and that will help. Also my English friend Pamela gets back from her trip home next week and we will be back to our weekly lunches out. I must say that everyone that I meet is so friendly and we keep getting invitations for meals etc. We rarely have a weekend when we are not heading out to someone else’s apartment or several people are coming around here for dinner.

I am playing tennis now with Debbie after she has finished teaching for the day, and I should soon have a bikini body. The size of the bikini is to be determined!

I am not sure what the weather is going to be like in November but I will check it that out and let you know what clothes you should bring with you. David might be away for a couple of nights whilst you are here, but will leave me the car so that we can go out and explore anyway. If it is raining we can always hit the movies. The cinemas here are massive with much bigger and more comfortable seats than back in England. Hopefully there might be a good western.

David is off to Kansas again this week until Thursday while I carry on canvassing the travel agents for our holiday in September. We both really want to go to Hawaii and with David’s airline loyalty points we should be able to afford to go. We can get some practice in here in the next couple of weeks as the complex is holding a Hawaiian luau, and we are going to be dressing up in grass skirts and lei’s… that’s just the boys!! They have mentioned something about Trash Can Punch… I will have to investigate that.

I will take some photos and tell you about it next week..

Anyway love from us both… take care and look after your strength. You will need it for November. All our love Sally and David xx

Thank you for dropping in today and I hope you will join me next week for another of our American adventures.  Thanks Sally

42 thoughts on “Smorgasbord Posts from My Archives – Letters from America 1985-1987 -July 4th 1985 Celebrations, Mechanical Bulls and Tennis”

  1. Pingback: Smorgasbord Posts from My Archives – Letters from America 1985-1987 -July 4th 1985 Celebrations, Mechanical Bulls and Tennis – Sports Zone

  2. Pingback: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Weekly Round Up – 19th -26th July -Josh Groban, Naan Bread, Fairy Tales, Waterford, Poetry, Reviews and Funnies | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

  3. I loved this one, Sally! I remember being in Ireland (our one trip) on the Fourth of July. It felt really strange to be an American with no celebration. It must have felt fun for you – I loved your comments! And riding that bull… you go, girl!!

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  4. Still chuckling over some of this! You paint such vivid pictures and with wonderful humour. Good to hear about the typewriter and it’s wonderful that your fears about being published have been found wanting!

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  6. The letter shows the fun you can get in the USA. Oh yes, typewriters are great. 😉 My handwriting honestly is the worst one can try to decipher. Judging by the handwriting, I would have to be a medical professor, over 90 of age. Lol

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  9. The mechanical bull got my attention, too. I always wanted to try one of those (I think that ship has sailed), but I never was in a place that had one.

    One of the reasons I enjoy this series so much is you always get me thinking about something from the past. In this case—typewriters. It reminds me of how lucky we are to have computers and can so easily edit our mistakes. I have many bad memories (before the self-correcting typewriters) about making mistakes, trying to erase the error with a typing eraser, and putting a hole in my paper. We are terribly spoiled now.

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    • Thanks Pete and I agree with you. I did several jobs after college that required me to type very long winded documents. I did a stint as a temp for six months to gain experience and one of the assignments was a week in a law office. Everything in triplicate and the documents invalid if found to have an error.. everything was checked with a fine tooth comb and of course no spell check facility. The guy who had dictated my documents muttered and it was the most horrendous job I ever did.. I must have had to retyped dozens of documents as you could not have typex or any rubbing out evident…xx

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  12. I’d forgotten about Gilly’s and its mechanical bull until I read about it in your letter. It was all the rage in Houston in the 1970s and 80s and was featured in the movie Urban Cowboy with John Travolta and Debra Winger.

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  15. When I saw “Mechanical Bulls” in the title of your post, I thought we might get a picture of you riding one! Alas, ’twas not to be. I got a kick out of your comments about publishing. Little did you know back then what the future of publishing would hold for you!

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  16. What a delightful letter, you feel that you are there, right there at the time it was written and you can see the sights and hear the sounds and partake in the minding of little Tracey. I look forward to reading more snippets.

    Joyce

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