Scattelogical ramblings and desultory humor - Almost May

Just said goodbye to my friend Kathy who is flying back across the pond to her home in London on Sunday.

She went to school and the little kids asked her questions.

Do you have chocolate drinks in your country?

We sometimes drink chocolate at Christmas.

Kathy says Americans are too fat and they eat too much.

Our trouble, she says, is that we have never lived through a war. We don't understand the concept of waste.

Funny timing though, Gloria. Just read today that England throws away 1/3 of its food! We lived through the Revolution!

Right, we did survive the Revolution.

She said her house would fit in my living room. And, its worth a half-million in U.S. dollars.

It told her how much my house was worth. She said, "That's just stupid."

Couldn't believe when I told her how much my taxes were, though.

The truth is in London, I couldn't afford breakfast.

Its a different scale of living entirely. Where she lives no one can afford "stuff'.

I spend my life trying to get my "stuff" organized.

Yes, London is super expensive - for everything. We complain about the cost of energy and housing here. Not even close. But in the case of gasoline, much of it is taxes there. Still she is right - we are too fat, we eat too much, waste too much and use too much.

She says in England we even decorate our homes differently. We have in a room what we need. she went around her kitchen and described exactly what was there. The washer was in the kitchen. the refrigerator in the next room. the silverware: a set for me, a set for him.
2 bowls, 2 plates, 2 cups and 2 saucers. The rest is in a box or given away to children.

It was a very graphic description. She has been blind for about 3 years now.

A very spare existence. She and her husband own a travel agency. They have all the money and things that they need. They just prefer to live very spare.

I try like heck to not let my kids be spoiled or feel entitled. They have so much that my wife and I did not. So far, they are not too materialistic. I think my nine year old is one of the few kids in his class without a video game system. And recently, they were doing a Math-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. We happened to have family over and his uncle gave him a few dollars. He surprised me and made me VERY proud when he donated it to the cause!

That means he didn't have a space in his head where he "needed" that amount of money for something.

Congratulations, Victor.

There is a way to live and not be addicted to "stuff". I must admit, growing up very poor, there were some things I wanted. That I still want.
Like electricity for my house. And I would like my computer to work faster: current speed 44kbps.

Maybe when I accomplish those things, I will stop "wanting".

Guess you're on dial-up, Gloria. That's a bummer. Faster access to the internet is becoming a necessity - more a need than a want.

Great job raising your son, Victor, when he donates to charity at his age. It's a good reason to be VERY proud of him.

Thanks, Pirl. Both kids are conscious of not wasting energy too - shutting off lights, etc. Best time to talk about things like that is when we're hiking.

Friends still make fun of me for not wasting paper towels and it doesn't bother me at all. I wasn't brought up to waste and neither were my kids. There really is a limit to any resource and the sooner youngsters are made aware of it the better it is for them.

Dial Up. Yes. I tried to download a virus scanner. It took 13 hours. The machine shut down. Had to start all over.

Absolutely true. Nothing is forever on this planet.

Oh - that's terrible, Gloria.

Somebody said, 'How can you STAND IT?'

Well, Im used to slow, but obviously some essential products simply will not work on a slow machine.

AT&T has a cable/phone/network package, and Mediacom has one also, they just don't have phone lines to this part of Alabama yet.

What about cable?

Gloria you said, "there were some things I wanted. That I still want.
Like electricity for my house." How do you run your computer - by candle light? LOL

Mediacom is the cable company, so they need phone lines and internet service which they don't have now -- or I mean they have in some parts of Alabama.

AT&T is offering a tv/internet/phone service package. Im not sure but I think the tv is via satellite. That one is in effect for this area, but out of principle I prefer to avoid AT&T. They just took over the local phone company and upped the rates by about 15$. I only have a phone at all to run my computer. Don't want to talk to anyone, don't want anyone talking to me.

I agree, Gloria, I'd much rather do my talking on the computer!

I still have three working outlets in the kitchen behind my house. They run the computer, the tv and the refrigerator. Anything else is by 100 ft extention cord.

My house was on fuses and all of the lines into the house were disconnected by the scammer who "pretended" to install circuit breaker boxes.

Circuit breaker boxes with no wiring to them and no breakers in them.

Yes I do use candles, oil lamps, and led flashlights. And wait for justice to prevail.

That's awful, Gloria. Is someone helping you?

At this point Im trying to recover some of my money in court so that I can do some of the repairs I need. It took 2 and 1/2 years just to get the guy arrested. They already had mug shots of him on file.
Since I filed charges the district attorney is supposed to be handling the case. I have yet to see him though.

ive heard of a family at the other end of town who live in a trailer in their back yard because their house was destroyed by a scammer. Well, I am almost in the same situation. Im living in my kitchen instead of my 10 room house.

The problem is rampant here because of the hurricanes and tornadoes. The scammers know there is federal money, or in my case retirement money and they know exactly how to get it.

Gloria, that is just terrible.

Gloria, I feel for you, I hope everything starts working out for you soon! Clem

Hang in there Gloria!!!!
I am responding to your Britt friends comments about living through a war.
She is right we don't realize what sacrifice really means. It's not really sacrifice when ther is nothing to eat, only some of the English had real treats and they were sent by Americans I mean canned meat and jam not cavier and Moet.
I was 10 duering WW2 everything was rationed ,butter,eggs,GAS,sugar, etc.
The Black Market was rampant. We also lived at a lower standard of living. Things we believe we need now just hadn't been invented, available food for instance, there wasn't a fast food chain at every corner, going "out to eat" was a rare treat ,there weren't the "events" like little league and afternoon parties where food was served or snacks were provided. I am an over weight american and I amaze myself when I think of how available food is and how often we unconsiously pop stuff into our mouths.
NUFF said.
My nephew lived in London two years ago, had planned to live there a year and travel between jobs.He came home six monthe early ,mony was gone and rate of exchange was a killer.

Wow! What eye-opening stories to be reading this morning!

I agree that we, as a people, tend to gather more clutter than we need. I found it quite liberating when I began clearing some of it out. Then I felt guilty that I was contributing to someone else's clutter when I gave it all away.

As for kids and learning the value of giving, I have a story, too. Last Christmas we 'adopted' a family in order for their children to enjoy receiving some Christmas presents. We explained the situation of this family and talked about it all in a family conference before we acted. My 6-year-old granddaughter came away from the experience with a true sense of giving. When her first tooth fell out a few months later and the tooth fairy left her a dollar, she handed it to her mom, asking her to send it to the kids that we helped out at Christmas time. I don't think that I was ever more proud of her than I was on that day.

One of my regrets is that while we talked of making our kids handle their money like this: 25% long term savings, 25% short term savings (for something they want), 25% charity & 25% for their use (spending money) but we never officially put it in place.
Like most kids, they have too much stuff. But I'm pleased to say they are generous to others and sensitive to our pocketbook. They have never created a scene about not getting something when we said "no".


My 9 year old just spent much of his birthday money buying roses for his sister and her friends that were in the high school play. Very cute. He told her it was as if "they got people from Broadway and dressed them up to look like high school kids"

I find that so endearing in an age of ME FIRST.
He sounds like a great kid.

Thanks! He has a big heart.

What a sweet story, Dave! I love it.

Somehow I don't think the "apple falls far from the tree"

Thank you both!

Awwww! Dave, that's so sweet!

You've raised a nice boy Dave....and I'm sure the rest of them too!!

Very nice, Dave. Maybe we can get our boys together for a fight?

fight? whose going to fight, you and Dave? Sounds like the boys know better.

Sweet boys!!

Great job with your kids.

Not to get into a political discussion, but have you noticed any products that you always assumed were made in the us now are not???
I just noticed one of my boxes of Band-Aids, Made in Brazil.
Couple years ago hubby bought me a huge Hershey kiss...made in Mexico???What??? I thought it tasted different.

The large number of imported goods in the U.S. is one of things my friend from England commented on. She was amazed at my garden hat, which was made in China.

Its about 3 inches too big for my head at the crown. The Chinese think Americans have big heads, I guess. But no body would have that big a head!