Monday, November 2, 2009

LETTER FROM AMERICA #17

I expect you are all surprised to be getting another letter so soon after the last one. Well, I realised that I had forgotten one or two things that I should really have included, so here they are.



Here is a photo of the US coins, from left to right they are “Quarter” (25 cents), “Dime” (10 cents), “Nickel” (5 cents) and “Penny” (1 cent) The difference between dimes and nickels I still find confusing, on the other hand, having dollar bills means that you do not accumulate masses of heavy coins, so no holes in pockets over here and these coins are very lightweight.

I forgot to mention the automatic garage doors everyone has, it is a neat system. When we leave home, a push on the button located just inside the garage door causes it to open. There is a radio transmitter kept on the sun visor which closes the door after we have left. Upon returning, the reverse sequence of events enables the car to be garaged without anyone having to go out in the rain/snow etc. I really love this!! The door, by the way, is horizontally sectioned and runs on tracks beneath the garage ceiling.

Life goes on here, Tuesday, November 3rd, is polling day when a plethora of officials are due to be elected. This includes Judges, Sheriffs, Mayors and goodness knows who else. As I do not have the vote, I don’t get very involved but must say I shall be glad to see the end of the election commercials on TV.

Talking of TV commercials, on some channels there are a surprising amount of advertisements for prescription medications, totally unlike those in the UK which are limited to non-prescription items (of course we have those here too!). Generally they are of the type designed to frighten, you know “take our pills or else you will suffer a fatal heart attack”, that sort of thing. Actually it strikes me that Americans are far more concerned about their health than we Brits. The number of specialist health centres, even in a place like Pottsville, is truly amazing!



Autumn is almost over on our mountain. Have you noticed that the first day after the clocks go back is almost always sunny? Ironic eh?

Anyway, I think I am up to speed on what I wanted to tell you, so until next time,
BFN

Henry Dallimore

No comments: