4th November
CARS AND THINGS
With a hundred TV channels to fill on a daily basis, sometimes the producers struggle to find something to show. “SPEED TV” resort to some funny stuff including “banger” racing, hardly the stuff for great TV, but as I have spent a lot of my life at auto auctions in a professional category, I found it quite fascinating to watch the classic car auctions that appear surprisingly frequently. Some of the stuff auctioned is old but better than new. We had, an evening or two back, an hour of $100,000 plus prices and I am amazed that these guys have enough money to play with toys like that. I am reminded that the only difference between men and boys is the price of the toys!
Visiting a local auto museum recently, the owner stopped for a chat. He told us that he shows only about twenty-five cars at a time and changes things around frequently. One of his friends has a store of three hundred old cars in as new condition so he always has something fresh to show. He was concentrating on quality not quantity which was clearly apparent. We had to wonder at the financial clout of his buddy with the three hundred cars, all stored under cover in “as new” condition!
Voting takes place today to elect the most powerful man in the world.
We have had this election in the media until we are quite tired of it and will be glad when it’s all over, but we would bet on Obama. We see lots of him on TV but not his running mate; on the other hand McCain has a little less presence on the box but we see a lot of Sarah Palin. Now she is something else in terms of presenting herself on TV, a first class star at an impromptu question and answer session.
The price of Diesel continues to fall; regular gas (petrol) is now down to
$2.09 and diesel is now $3.15. This is a far cry from almost $5.00 we paid earlier in the year.
There is a WWII memorial in Washington. On TV here in South Carolina, local veterans are invited to apply for free transportation to visit the memorial on Veterans Day (11/11), about seven hundred miles. We thought this was a very nice gesture on the part of the local government. I know what the British government would offer our WWII Vet’s, bugger all.
Most of us had parents involved in WWII; we all know what the government gave them!
I am starting to really like the way things get done over here, but am disappointed at the number of senior citizens that still have to work.
November 6th.
The election is over and if you don’t know the result, I’m not the man to tell you. The TV programmes have improved a lot now!
We have had 25c today and yesterday with wall to wall sun, just lovely!
I have friends who are golfers, please don’t do that old gag again about “old golfers never die….”
We have played on the “crazy golf” courses a few times; they are far grander than the ones we are used to in Europe. On the way back from a “crazy golf” morning, I noted a “par three” golf course so I pulled in to reception to find out more. Getting a round of golf in England is almost impossible and in Spain, completely off the planet. First you must buy a share in the golf course! (Honest).
No problem here, you want to play golf, and on a full size course, it will cost you $30 for TWO people for 18 holes. No clubs with you? then you can hire a bag with clubs for $1 (one dollar!). Yesterday we practiced on the driving range; today we played the par three course, just nine holes. Tomorrow we are playing again, this time 18 holes.
We have seen a few folks with something like a very small golf trolley, - the kind you put your golf bag onto, - but they have a small cylinder of oxygen mounted on it, piped up their nose to help them breathe. This means that those with breathing difficulties can still get off down to the shops instead of being housebound. If you have a breathing problem, try asking your GP for one of those!
We have had a month here in Myrtle Beach where the sun shines almost all the time and it has been fun but moving time looms.
We are always planning ahead and so far we have sorted Christmas, New Year and the “blast” that goes with it, and our New Year walk with the Costa Blanca Mountain Walkers. We have just about sorted next March and the skiing and we know that we will be bringing the caravan back from Spain at the end of March. Breathtaking sometimes!
There must be some money about over here. One of the local R.V. dealers has among all the mega flash R.V’s on his lot, one which is displaying a price of $359,880!! His other stuff is a bit cheaper but not by much!
November 13
The horsey types are in town, on the campground next door. This is another mega sized campground with three thousand pitches, they arrived en-masse last night for a weekend get-together with their seven hundred horses. They tell me that there are normally about sixteen hundred of them but the economic climate is getting to some of them. Some of the 5th-wheel horse boxes are fantastic, with superb living accommodation in the front end. The few less well-off are in tents! The horses are kept on small roped-off areas on the camp sites (what we call “pitches” in UK)
Diesel is now down to $2.99!
CARS AND THINGS
With a hundred TV channels to fill on a daily basis, sometimes the producers struggle to find something to show. “SPEED TV” resort to some funny stuff including “banger” racing, hardly the stuff for great TV, but as I have spent a lot of my life at auto auctions in a professional category, I found it quite fascinating to watch the classic car auctions that appear surprisingly frequently. Some of the stuff auctioned is old but better than new. We had, an evening or two back, an hour of $100,000 plus prices and I am amazed that these guys have enough money to play with toys like that. I am reminded that the only difference between men and boys is the price of the toys!
Visiting a local auto museum recently, the owner stopped for a chat. He told us that he shows only about twenty-five cars at a time and changes things around frequently. One of his friends has a store of three hundred old cars in as new condition so he always has something fresh to show. He was concentrating on quality not quantity which was clearly apparent. We had to wonder at the financial clout of his buddy with the three hundred cars, all stored under cover in “as new” condition!
Voting takes place today to elect the most powerful man in the world.
We have had this election in the media until we are quite tired of it and will be glad when it’s all over, but we would bet on Obama. We see lots of him on TV but not his running mate; on the other hand McCain has a little less presence on the box but we see a lot of Sarah Palin. Now she is something else in terms of presenting herself on TV, a first class star at an impromptu question and answer session.
The price of Diesel continues to fall; regular gas (petrol) is now down to
$2.09 and diesel is now $3.15. This is a far cry from almost $5.00 we paid earlier in the year.
There is a WWII memorial in Washington. On TV here in South Carolina, local veterans are invited to apply for free transportation to visit the memorial on Veterans Day (11/11), about seven hundred miles. We thought this was a very nice gesture on the part of the local government. I know what the British government would offer our WWII Vet’s, bugger all.
Most of us had parents involved in WWII; we all know what the government gave them!
I am starting to really like the way things get done over here, but am disappointed at the number of senior citizens that still have to work.
November 6th.
The election is over and if you don’t know the result, I’m not the man to tell you. The TV programmes have improved a lot now!
We have had 25c today and yesterday with wall to wall sun, just lovely!
I have friends who are golfers, please don’t do that old gag again about “old golfers never die….”
We have played on the “crazy golf” courses a few times; they are far grander than the ones we are used to in Europe. On the way back from a “crazy golf” morning, I noted a “par three” golf course so I pulled in to reception to find out more. Getting a round of golf in England is almost impossible and in Spain, completely off the planet. First you must buy a share in the golf course! (Honest).
No problem here, you want to play golf, and on a full size course, it will cost you $30 for TWO people for 18 holes. No clubs with you? then you can hire a bag with clubs for $1 (one dollar!). Yesterday we practiced on the driving range; today we played the par three course, just nine holes. Tomorrow we are playing again, this time 18 holes.
We have seen a few folks with something like a very small golf trolley, - the kind you put your golf bag onto, - but they have a small cylinder of oxygen mounted on it, piped up their nose to help them breathe. This means that those with breathing difficulties can still get off down to the shops instead of being housebound. If you have a breathing problem, try asking your GP for one of those!
We have had a month here in Myrtle Beach where the sun shines almost all the time and it has been fun but moving time looms.
We are always planning ahead and so far we have sorted Christmas, New Year and the “blast” that goes with it, and our New Year walk with the Costa Blanca Mountain Walkers. We have just about sorted next March and the skiing and we know that we will be bringing the caravan back from Spain at the end of March. Breathtaking sometimes!
There must be some money about over here. One of the local R.V. dealers has among all the mega flash R.V’s on his lot, one which is displaying a price of $359,880!! His other stuff is a bit cheaper but not by much!
November 13
The horsey types are in town, on the campground next door. This is another mega sized campground with three thousand pitches, they arrived en-masse last night for a weekend get-together with their seven hundred horses. They tell me that there are normally about sixteen hundred of them but the economic climate is getting to some of them. Some of the 5th-wheel horse boxes are fantastic, with superb living accommodation in the front end. The few less well-off are in tents! The horses are kept on small roped-off areas on the camp sites (what we call “pitches” in UK)
Diesel is now down to $2.99!
No comments:
Post a Comment