Oh, I’m so glad I visited the USA

Yes, I’m so glad I visited the USA

Anything I want, they had it right there in the USA.

Friends: Of course, the main attraction of my visit was to reconnect and visit with all of our friends. And it was unbelievably gratifying to go to to the UU Congregation or the Legislative Ministry Annual Meeting or to friend’s houses or even my dentist’s office and be greeted as a conquering hero or something. That feeling of love pouring over me from my community is something I will never forget and was a reminder (which I really didn’t need) that our stay in London must be temporary. I am happy to be here and terribly glad for this opportunity, but our visit was a striking reminder of how much we had left behind.

They had it right there in the USA: A real part of the fun of the return visit was to experience various parts of American culture that I had missed here. A few of the cheap thrills:

• American appliances. Doing laundry in a real, functional washer and dryer was a ridiculous delight, after spending months trying to use the pathetic and useless machine in our flat. And it was nice to see a refrigerator larger than a big suitcase.
• Driving: I hadn’t driven a car since the end of August, other than a weekend in Italy in October, so it was fun to drive around North Carolina, New York and New Jersey. I have come to realize that I don’t really miss driving all that much and I am delighted that I don’t have a car in London. But being able to get somewhere relatively instantly is a nice feeling and it allowed me to visit friends more easily on this trip.
• Shopping: I did the tourist thing on this trip. Things like clothes and shoes and golf balls are quite expensive her in the UK, so I came to the USA with a half empty suitcase and proceeded to fill it with shirts, pants, suits and shoes. I had two Costco rebate coupons and went to Costco to spend them and came to the realization that there is very little at Costco that fits into a suitcase. So I ended up buying nice bottles of wine to bring with me when visiting friends.
• Grocery Stores. I know that they have big, American-style grocery stores in other parts of London. They are just too far away for me to shop there. So it was nice to be able to walk into a big grocery store with lots of fresh options.
• Old Places: Somehow, I expected more things to be different. But Corso 98, was the same for dinner and Tierny’s and Egan’s were unchanged. A few stores have closed and a few have opened. People I met who I didn’t know well often didn’t even realize I’d left.

Let’s Go Mets: I got to go to a Mets game with Alex and my fiend Harvey on Wednesday afternoon. We had the law firm seats, eight rows behind the visitor’s dugout and it was a beautiful, sunny spring day. The Mets, who weren’t hitting at all and had just lost four in a row to some lousy teams, beat the Marlins 2-1. That has started a streak where they’ve won five of six, easing the worry of Mets’ fans who are trained to expect the worst after years of heartbreak. They have the best team that they have had in thirty years and, in the absence of numerous key injuries, seem like a lock to be a playoff team. It will be painful to miss this season. I have MLB.TV, which would allow me to watch every game, but almost all of them start at midnight or later. People have suggested that I record them somehow and watch them the next day, but that really doesn’t interest me. I can see condensed games made up of each bit of action (so it is short), but then I miss the Mets announcers, and they are one of the joys in watching the games. Hopefully tis run of good teams will continue after we return next spring.

Montclair Politics: This is something that I care a little bit about and certainly know something about from my time on the Town Council. With the Town election coming up in May, it was a subject of discussion during my visit, but the main topic was why the current Council is running utterly unopposed. It isn’t like they have done a great job or done much of anything at all. They basically continued the plan that we put in place, which led to a decrease in the deficit. They have given in to developers repeatedly, leading to huge buildings at Vally and Bloomfield that are uglier than they needed to be. They have operated in secrecy and have tried to never take a position on anything. They gave up the long-time Council practice of seeking input from the community and barely even return calls or e-mails. It would be difficult to find a way to be less transparent than this Council. They appointed Sean Spiller to the Board of School Estimate, even though he had a grotesque conflict of interest. And, although the Mayor appoint the Board of Education members and the Council participates in approving their budget, they have acted like the Board of Ed is some alien body that they have never heard of. Their style of government is to avoid taking positions, avoid any form of leadership, avoid any input and to simply govern imperiously and paternalistically. One would think that there would be some reaction from the public at Council meetings or some questions raised in the Montclair Times (OK, I know the Montclair Times can barely cover an Easter Egg Hunt, so that may be unrealistic) and at the very least a challenge brought in this election. (It is hard to count Maureen Edelson as a real challenger to Sean Spiller, since she is an identified Republican leader in an overwhelmingly Democratic community. I don’t really agree with Maureen on any number of issues, but I’d still like to see her win, just to shake things up a little.) It is a bit depressing….