This week was wet. Really wet. The chill seems to have lifted a little, but the weather has not been at all good – on Wednesday and Thursday there was heavy drizzling mist all day long (which everyone I spoke to seemed to think I would welcome because it’s just like they perceive London to be all the time). Even when it wasn’t raining, there was a distinct damp in the air, all of which helps prevent the build site from drying out. So, nothing much has happened all week on site.
But that doesn’t mean that we (and Bill) have been doing nothing. We had a budget control meeting with Bill and set him to chasing a cheaper solution to the windows – the first quotation we have received was rather more than budget. There is now an electricity supply to the build site. Bill has been out on site with a well digger to plan where the well (and the septic tank will be installed). Lisa’s labours in investigating elevators (yes, we plan for a lift between the two floors. Lisa and I have one good knee between the pair of us, and nobody knows what the future might bring) has led to a meeting with Monique from Blue Moose Elevators to plan and cost this in detail. Lisa has also been in touch with a specialist timber firm about good quality hardwood for the decking on the back of the house (none of the cheap nasty pine which needs to be replaced every few years for us!). Now we need to start researching some of the other specialist items like bathroom equipment and wine storage.
We made another trip to Gainesville this week to the local Social Security office. In spite of a slightly higher standard of decor, this is remarkably similar to its UK equivalent, not a very inspiring place. The reason for the trip – health insurance. Now, I am as keen as the next person on a well-regulated organisation of health care. And some aspects of what has happened in USA for health care in the past are positive, even if some of the results don’t stack up as well as might be expected from the money spent. The idea of extending health insurance to the 15% of the nation who have no cover doesn’t seem a revolutionary concept. Nor does reigning in some of the bad previous practices of health insurance by setting a few minimum standards seem a staggering reduction in personal liberty. However, there cannot be much argument that the Affordable Health Care Act could have been implemented in a more efficient manner. It’s not for me to judge if this is plain incompetence or something more sinister. However, one fallout is that the personal health insurance I took out only a couple of months back is now being taken off the market. And it seems that the much-publicised and much-criticised Obamamcare website where I should be able to seek cover has a black hole which perfectly fits my status. It is assumed that everyone over 65 has Medicare, the government-backed health cover scheme for the less-than-young. So I fall between the cracks, as I am not eligible to join Medicare for some years to come. The rules on Medicare seem to change regularly (according to the guidance we received from the US Embassy in London), so we went to Social Services to find out the real truth. Yes, I am outside of Medicare for a minimum of three years, so other arrangements are needed. Hey, ho, back to the insurance agent.
Word has obviously got about the neighbourhood about the bird feeder. Our flying squirrel is a regular nocturnal visitors, and along with the normal chickadees, titmice and nuthatches, we are seeing other new species. Another social gathering was the Christmas Tree lighting celebration in Dahlonega – we went down to see the parade including army students from the local university, school marching band, vintage cars and lots of floats. Luckily the weather remained fine for the day.
Robin’s Opinions of America
Continuing my weekly Likes and Dislikes section , here’s my personally opinionated thoughts for this week on life in USA.
Likes
Serviceable roads
Road maintenance isn’t a very exciting subject normally. Until your car hits a pothole in the road and jolts your teeth out. Or punctures your tyre. Or pushes you to slide off the road and make a terrifying choice – down the precipitous slopes that fringe many highways here, or go the other way into a steep rock face. Crash barriers are for wimps here!
In England, we have got used to a remarkably low standard of roads. Not down to third world levels, or even the track that leads to our building site (it will get improved when the building is complete, honest). But even as you drive down suburban roads, there are dents which the council hasn’t “got round to” repairing and incompletely filled and recovered trenches created by the utility companies. And we sort of muddled through, hoping that we don’t have to swerve too violently to avoid one of these obstacles (and possibly take out an innocent pedestrian). The impact on cyclists can, of course, be even more dire.
In USA (at least the part where we live) things are a lot better. Smooth well-maintained roads seem to be the norm. Perhaps this is helped in part by the fact that most utilities like electricity and phones are on poles in the sky, not under the road. Overhead services may have some negatives, like when storms cut off the electricity supply or when your carefully framed photograph of the mountains has a power line across the top, but it keeps the roads from being chopped up so often. On the local TV news, there is a regular spot, almost every day, by one announcer who makes it a personal crusade to bring the authorities to account for holes in the road. People obviously care about their tax dollars really being put to work to keep the roads smooth. And this is not because the taxes we pay to the county are high compared to UK. I can only assume that someone somewhere is doing a better job here than their counterpart in Ealing.
Dislikes
Awesome
“Awesome” is a very popular word in America. The dictionary defines this adjective as
1. inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear; causing or inducing awe.
2. showing or characterized by reverence, admiration, or fear; exhibiting or marked by awe.
3. Slang. very impressive
So, what is this impressive, even awesome, adjective applied to? One might think of views of the rugged wooded heights of Appalachia. Or perhaps the large earthmoving gear which rips into those same hills to provide a piece of land for us to build on. Maybe the 8 lane freeways heading into Atlanta (they certainly scare me!)
But no, awesome has been hijacked as a general purpose word to mean something between “I agree” and “I see/hear you”. So, ask for a coffee in a cafe (or a “double shot skinny latte” if you want to seem knowledgeable) and you will be responded to with a long slow “Awesome”. Just a plain green salad with a vinagrette dressing – “Awesome”.
Somehow, it feels sad that a perfectly good word has fallen into abuse. The frequency with which it is used, to a point where it just becomes another bit of verbal padding, makes it almost meaningless. I suppose my dislike nails me down as some sort of linguistic purist or pedant. And there are probably just as many examples of word degradation in English English as in American English, and this is not just an American issue – it’s just that I am approaching America with relatively new eyes and ears. But I still get a little miffed to be advised that my personal choice of soft drink (whether it is unsweet tea, lemonade or anything else) is AWESOME.
Please feel free to let me know of your own feelings about America – maybe this will be a place to give you my take on them!
Come back next week and find out if the building project is moving ahead again.