Bon Voyage

And now, when I've finished my coffee (an American habit) and had some lunch, I am off. If anything interesting happens on the boat I'll put it on here when I get home. If not, this is goodbye!

Montreal VI

I am definitely a tourist in Montreal; much more so than I was in America. Not really because the things I have been doing are different. I think it is more that I was on the lookout for interesting anecdotes and sociological moments in America. And, I realise now, looking especially for those which would reinforce my preconceptions of the country.

In contrast, here I have walked past a fair number of people begging, and met a guy selling books of his jokes on the street, while essentially refusing to let them colour my picture of Canada as a civilised country with universal health care and few social problems.

Which is obviously only half true (the universal health care...). Even museum exhibits frequently refer to the city's divided nature (both in terms of income and of ethnicity - French and English, as well as various more recent immigrant groups) and various social problems. It has been a lesson to me in the power of unexamined prejudice to influence the way one sees things.

Montreal V

This is becoming seriously addictive. The previous post took me to 61% female... I wonder if it's the exclamation marks that give me away...

Montreal IV

Ha ha! Since adding cake pictures I have gone from being 75% male to being 51% female! Sorry for the confusion folks. Will endeavour to keep the cake stories coming.

New York re-cap

I present a brief selection of cakes from New York.

Seen only through the window, and unfortunately unsampled, lurid cakes in Spanish Harlem:The selection in a strange, ultra-modernist cake bar (!) on the Lower East Side:And, my favourite, the cakes Nico and I enjoyed at Podunk, the most wonderful, retro, homely teahouse I could imagine - thank you Sarah for the recommendation (mine already tucked into before I remembered to take a photo)!

Montreal II - Fran's true gender revealed!

Adam sent me this. According to GenderAnalyzer this blog is written by a 75% man...! I guess my secret's finally out.

Montreal

My first two impressions of Montreal are:

1. It's very French - the streets even smell like streets in France
2. It's very cold

On the train here we were stopped at the border for two hours while border officials conducted a surprisingly thorough check of each passenger. Including removing three from my carriage alone and taking them away in a van while the rest of us continued on our way into Canada. When I walked through the train after the guards had gotten off, there were frosty patches in every vestibule:

And this morning, after a shower I went out to buy milk for my breakfast and after about two minutes found that my hair was all frozen! It hadn't even occurred to me that it could be cold enough for this to happen!

New York VI

So, I discovered my inner journalist and battled selfconsciousness to take this picture of a man, just outside Grand Central station:


I guess he was deliberately referencing the men made famous in photos of the Depression. But with a modern twist - endorsements from his media appearances.

I also saw this sign in the East Village which made me giggle:

People are obviously aware of the worsening situation. But at the same time, luxury businesses seem to be continuing to thrive: the photo's not great, but I saw this advert for a helicopter taxi to the airport on a taxi on Fifth Avenue.

New York V

Apologies - it's been a while, I know. But with the election over, and spending all my time on touristy activities in New York, it has been really hard to think of things worth writing about.

Some of the less touristy things I have been up to include raking up the leaves of a Quaker cemetery in Brooklyn, accompanying someone to a walk in clinic (she had tonsillitis), going to Whole Foods Market nearly every day, mainly to stock up on Dorset cereals, watching every Arsenal match and attempting to get into running (but have now hurt my knee and given up I'm afraid).

Mostly I don't feel like writing about New York because I reckon most of you know the city better than I do, so there doesn't seem much point. It's wonderful here, but occasionally there are things that get me down.

One in particular. Changing trains on the subway I saw a young man, about my age, begging. There are a lot of beggars on the subway (more than in London) but this guy was even more tragic than the rest of them. He held a sign, strung over his upper arms with string, and resting on his chest. It said, essentially, "I lost my arms in an accident and am trying to collect money in order to get prosthetic limbs".

The sheer barbarity of such a rich country being unwilling to collectively provide for this man to get new arms - to enable him to work! - was one thing that freaked me out. But the other was that I averted my eyes and jumped on my train. It was only once I had sat down that I realised my heart was racing. And that I should have stopped, spoken to him and given him some money. (If I were a half way committed journalist or blogger - I would also have taken a photo of his sign). Being so constantly assailed (and it's the same in London) I avoid even thinking about these things until it's too late to do anything. For this I am ashamed, and am trying to do differently until I leave.

New York IV

Quote of the day:

"Show me where the open door is. Even if it's cracked up a little bit, maybe I'll plough right on through that and maybe prematurely plough through it, but don't let me miss an open door."

For those of you who need a translation, that's Sarah Palin saying she is still considering a run for the presidency in 2012.

New York III

I'm afraid I have been struggling to think of things to write about since the flurry of election-relating activity. It feels like the political equivalent of the breaks in national football tournaments for international matches: journalists still have to fill column inches, but no one really has anything to say.

I spoke too soon about right wing journalists going easy on Obama though - I think that must have lasted about two days, tops. They are going at him all guns blazing now. A couple of headlines to illustrate:

"The death of an American idea: under President Obama just under half the population will be on the dole"

"The worst case scenario: the economic consequences of hope and change" (dirty words that they are)

On the other hand, there seems to be surprisingly little serious internal critique of the Republican party, or proper consideration of why the party lost. In most cases Obama is portrayed as having won because of a combination of the economy, unfair outspending of McCain and the celebrity factor. Very few suggest that it was McCain who lost the election.

The premise seems to be that Obama is an aberration - had he not been around voters would have done the "right thing" (since all these authors assume voters are naturally conservative and will only vote Democrat under exceptional circumstances - which may have some truth in it). There is some predictable internal bitchiness, much aimed at Palin, but little in the way of useful analysis which could point the party in a better direction in order to win in 2012. Left leaning papers can hardly hide their glee at this, hoping the Republicans will lurch to the right and write themselves off for at least Obama's two potential terms.

One partial exception is this article from the National Review, which produces a long list of all the Republicans who have deviated from the path of small government and free market economics, and calls for their heads in order to return the party to its true Regan-ite roots. I'm not convinced this kind of "purification" would be enough to win against the hope and enthusiasm Obama has inspired. But it might well trigger the aforementioned lurch to the right.

New York II

Apologies all, I was meant to travel south to Birmingham, Alabama today to tell you something about what people are thinking in areas which didn't vote overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. And I missed my train. And (of course) there's only one per day. I might yet make it, but not for now I'm afraid. Many apologies.

Philadelphia XII

Two things from the papers this morning that I thought might interest you.

The Obama campaign has published behind the scenes photos of the Obama family on election night - Flikr seems to be struggling to keep up with demand to see them, but if you refresh a few times they should appear!

And Salon has this very interesting article by Michael Lind tracing a pattern of governmental growth and backlash throughout American history. He divides this history into three "Republics", each lasting approximately 72 years, and each divided in half, with growth in the role of the state followed by determined contraction. He sees the fourth republic as having begun with Bush's re-election in 2004 (without much justification), but admits that Obama will be remembered as the first president of the new era.

Philadelphia XI

A lot of people I spoke to before the election were concerned about the Bradley effect, or similar phenomena, which suggested that opinion polls were overestimating support for Obama, and that this overestimation was the result of voters having, but not recognising or being willing to admit, a racial bias against him.

In the end it looks like this wasn't the case at all. It is true that had white voters decided the election, McCain would have won. But Obama won 43% of the white vote, compared with 41% for Kerry in 2004, suggesting this is a bias against Democrats rather than against a black candidate.

Similarly, among those voters who said race did not influence their vote, Obama won a majority, but he won exactly the same majority among those who said race had influenced their vote (this was on CNN I think on election night).

I present this as a good news story to cheer those of you (like me) mourning the passing of Prop 8 in California (of all places), banning same sex marriage. Which is too depressing for me to write about.

Philadelphia X

Even in the right wing press, many American commentators are going easy on Obama for the moment. No one wants to be seen as bitter, racist or anti-democratic by denouncing him just yet. Articles have titles like "Can we agree?" - looking for areas of common ground between Obama's coalition and the National Review's readership.

With one exception - our own dear Melanie Phillips. I can't quite bring myself to go through this whole article and tell you all the reasons why she is wrong and offensive. But for starters:

- she compares Obama's election to Blair's in 1997 which is, I think, to totally underestimate the strength of Obama's grassroots campaign, and the interest and enthusiasm he has generated among people who have never had any interest in politics before

- she claims Obama's election is, in effect, the signing of a national suicide note, since he is part of the progressive conspiracy that wants to destroy everything that is great about America (and in the same breath manages to call Blair a Marxist)

- she doesn't even pay lip service to the achievement of Obama, and America, in electing a black president after such a history of the discrimination against and disenfranchisement of African Americans. Instead, she condemns the "victim culture" which - shock horror - tries to redress historical injustices by promoting the rights of minority groups.

This woman has been top of my list of people I feel the need to shout at when they come on the radio for a long time. It is made even worse, somehow, by the fact that she went to school with my mum, and then to St Anne's. But I do think it's interesting that, while an American magazine is prepared to publish this article, its American writers do not yet seem as ready or prepared to write Obama off so definitively.

UPDATE: lovely Oliver Burkeman spotted she wrote something similarly innane in the Spectator (can you get any more grumpy than this?!):

"A historic moment indeed. The hyperbole for once is not exaggerated: this is a watershed election which changes the fate of the world. The fear however is that the world now becomes very much less safe for all of us as a result."

"Those of us who have looked on appalled during this most frightening of presidential elections – at the suspension of reason and its replacement by thuggery -- can only hope that the way this man governs will be very different from the profile provided by his influences, associations and record to date. It’s a faint hope – the enemies of America, freedom and the west will certainly be rejoicing today"

And finally, as Burkeman points out, she thinks 52% of the popular vote is a "minority power-grab".

Gah! Words finally fail me.

Philadelphia IX - what next?

Amidst all the euphoria, and all the talk of the dawning of a new American age, a pessimistic part of me is wondering whether this level of grass-roots interest and enthusiasm can be maintained. Whether it really will re-kindle the spirit of voluntarism and service which Americans feared had been lost. And whether it will be possible for an Obama presidency to be as different from the previous status quo as people seem to want it to be.

I am also fascinated to see how this man is transformed from a cult figure, an icon of hope, to the ultimate authority figure: the President of the United States. Will it still be cool to wear Obama t-shirts and badges in February 2009? Or 2010?

Philadelphia VIII - celebration

Even before the result was announced excitement filled the city. As we drove through the centre of town there were about 20 people standing in the central reservation holding Obama signs while everyone honked and hooted as they drove past.

By 11:15, when the result was announced we could hear the honking and cheering from the centre of town, despite being about 10 blocks away, as well as the sound of the helicopters with spotlights which were hovering over the city.

We all got rather weepy listening to various talking heads on how this was a historic night, and even more weepy during Obama's (very sober, and not at all triumphalist) acceptance speech in Grant Park, Chicago.

At 1am as I was being driven home (all this driving! it makes me miss night buses at home) there were still people out, and the odd spontaneous street party going on, although things seemed to have calmed down a little. In Pittsburgh in the university area there was a massive parade at this time in the evening.

I'm looking forward to seeing the final results from Philadelphia and the 36th ward in particular. At present, Obama seems to have won 83% of the Philly vote but I've not seen any reports of levels of turnout. It seemed close to 100% of registered voters in my ward and I'd like to see if that is borne out by the numbers. I'll keep you informed if I ever find out.

Philadelphia VII - get out the vote!

Checking door knockers was pretty boring, but after we were redeployed to a more southern area office we were sent out to knock on doors and to remind people to vote.

I was lucky enough to be paired with a wonderful woman who lived in the area, knew her way around and clearly felt at ease there. And we were lucky enough to be working in areas which were nearly 100% black, so we never had to ask if someone was considering voting for Obama. In fact, quite a few people took great pleasure in pretending, momentarily, to have voted for McCain.

The areas we were in were pretty poor, including a set of streets called "the box" which is notorious for having the most drug dealers anywhere in Philadelphia, and some others where my canvassing partner had seen a teenager firing a gun the previous week. Many houses were boarded up, and many others which looked uninhabitable contained families (in the lower photo of the street you can see a man opening the door of a house that looks completely boarded up).

We knocked on hundreds of doors in the course of the day, and struggled to find a single person who had not already voted. Almost everyone said they had voted before work, at 7 or 8am. Some people had family members who had been unable to sleep, and had arrived at the polling station at 6 (they didn't open for voting until 7) just to make sure they would get a chance to vote. Someone who had arrived at 7 was the 160th person to vote at his station. Unlike in other parts of this city, and the country, there were hardly any queues after this initial rush, and no one reported being turned away or unable to vote for any reason.

But there was a festive atmosphere around the polling stations, even without queues. One had been set up in a small flower shop (see photo), another in a funeral home. Outside another, in a local park, a man had set up an amplifier and was playing covers by Dave Matthews Band, with a small Obama sign. Other people around him were sitting on park benches or standing around, often with their children, holding Obama signs, while others gave out coffee and pretzels to voters as they arrived (the 36th ward office had a huge supply of pretzels for people who had to wait in line, but since no one in our area did they were distributed relatively freely).

By 6pm we were mainly just telling everyone to have a great night and enjoy the celebrations, as people started to come out into the streets, to greet everyone they saw with "have you voted?" and drive around honking. People also started to tell us to be careful and stay safe, and since everyone seemed to have voted we left happy (and exhausted from all that walking!).

Philadelphia VI - the office and the organisation

The shifts at the Obama office in Philadelphia's 36th ward were advertised as starting at 8am, 11am and 2pm on the website. I didn't make it for 8 I'm afraid, but I wandered down there after breakfast and arrived at about 10:30.

There were seven members of staff, and about four volunteers waiting for their missions. By the time I had waited 10 minutes to be briefed and sent out, eight more volunteers had arrived.

You can see from the picture that we were a diverse bunch, though perhaps unrepresentatively white, as the 36th ward is largely black.

I have heard a lot of people talking about the military precision with which local Obama offices have been run, despite the fact that they are largely staffed by young volunteers. This is not quite how it seemed to me. I was impressed with how they were able to find work for the many volunteers who just showed up wanting to be helpful, and redeployed us by chauffeur driven minibus to other areas when we were more needed there. Especially as they must have had very little idea of just how many people would show up on the day.

However, there seemed to be little in the way of a plan of action, and a fair amount of tussling between the various members of staff over how volunteers could be most useful. All this was done in earshot of said volunteers as we waited to be given our tasks, and I was quite uncomfortable to hear the dismissive way some of them talked about us.

I also found some them pretty patronising. One guy was briefing us to go out and check whether the correct door hangers had been left out in various polling districts: we had to make sure they showed the correct polling station as some had been left on the wrong streets. He showed us maps of each district, which were enclosed by a line in yellow highlighter, and explained at length that on the boundaries of each district, only the internal side of the street was part of the district, the other belonging to a different district. He then spent an awful lot of time unnecessarily talking about how to identify which was the north side of the road, saying "but in case you have any difficulty identifying which is the north side, I've got a useful heuristic for you to use" before confusing everyone with incorrect information about the numbering of streets in Philadelphia. It was all rather frustrating, that they didn't feel able to trust us to take a map and be able to read it.

Nevertheless, I don't want to be too negative! The atmosphere in the offices was upbeat, if only from our natural enthusiasm for the project, and it felt like we were all contributing, if only in a minute way. And there was a fantastic selection of food - doughnuts, apples, home-made ginger cake, salad, chocolate bars and pizza (though all at different times - we never knew what might be on offer when we got back to the office!).

Philadelphia V - hold up!

Hang on! Did I really just post about electoral statistics instead of saying:

Obama won!
A black American won a landslide in the presidential election!

And the whole country seemed wild with excitement (though I wish in a small way I could also have seen the south and heard how things felt to voters there, which now appears the last bastion of a battered Republican party).

But I didn't want to get ahead of myself - I want to write about election day in chronological order!

Philadelphia IV - the result vs the predictions

Well, my guesses look to have been a bit too conservative. In the end, Obama won Indiana and Florida, while North Carolina and Missouri are still (at time of writing) technically un-called because they are so close. However, the New York Times claims 100% of votes have been counted in both these states, and it looks like Obama narrowly won NC, while McCain narrowly won Missouri.

Philadelphia III - predictions

OK, my predictions for the ten swing states below are:

Arizona - Republican
Florida - Republican
Georgia - Republican
Indiana - Republican
Missouri - Republican
Montana - Republican
North Carolina - Democrat
North Dakota - Republican
Ohio - Democrat
Virginia - Democrat

More Republicans wins among these, but this doesn't mean defeat for Obama - in fact, over the course of the campaign the swing states have changed, so a few, like Pennsylvania and New Hampshire which used to be swing states are now considered safe for Obama, and others, like Colorado have swung even further, from being safe for the Republicans to safe for the Democrats.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and your predictions.

Philadelphia II - swing states

I've been planning to make some predictions about which way each of the swing states will go.

RCP has the following states as toss-ups at present: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and Virginia (10 states).

The leaning or toss-up states according to FiveThirtyEight.com are: Florida, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota and Ohio (6 states).

These are the ones to watch tomorrow. They all voted for Bush in 2004.

Philadelphia

Things are really buzzing here.

There were two people standing at a big crossroads with signs saying "Obama" and "Vote 2moro". Everyone was honking as they passed.

In the Whole Foods Market (a self consciously right on supermarket) a stranger approached us with "have you heard the news? Obama's grandmother has died". And we told the checkout girl. And everyone was shaking their heads.

Stalls all over the city are giving out posters and stickers - I managed to pick up a Pride Obama one, with a rainbow logo.

Probably one in five people in the street is wearing an Obama badge or t-shirt, or even carrying a large cardboard sign.

Obama is at his highest proportion of the popular vote according to Real Clear Politics: 51.6% (with the gap between him and McCain standing at 8.3%).

But everyone just wants it to be Wednesday: the anxiety is killing us.

New York

As I came into New York on the bus on Friday I was amazed to see so many children out in the streets, all fully dressed up for halloween, carrying pumpkin-shaped bags for candy, and often accompanied by parents in fancy dress. Shops more than homes seemed to be the best target, perhaps because so many people live in apartment blocks.

But halloween in New York doesn't end there - there is also a parade and a liberal amount of fancy dress partying by adults. The subway is packed and everyone is dressed up in some way.

The parade was a mixture of floats and marching music, similar to Notting Hill carnival, but at night and with more gratuitous nudity, and random people who have dressed up and exhibit themselves along the parade route, where thousands of people stand waiting to take pictures of the best costumes. My photos didn't come out at all well, but these from 2007 will give you some idea...

After the parade we went to a party in the west village at the house of Amy Winehouse's bassist. I wondered what we could learn about 2008 from the costumes on display. A lot were timeless (witches, football players, the sunmaid maiden etc), but others seemed more "dated". A lot of references to economic downturn - a downward arrow inscribed with "the economy"; a haggard old woman covered in dollar bills and gold coins. And a large number of Sarah Palins, wandering around winking and miming shooting large mammals.

She's been on the receiving end of quite a bit of mischief this week (as every week!) - Alex reminded me that Palin puts the "alas" into "Alaska". Carolyn sent me this flowchart: understanding how SP decides what to say to a difficult question. And Maggie sent me this article, showing that Brits are turning against her, including burning her effigy.

Only two days left and everyone is getting twitchy with nerves.

Boston VI

I've not seen anyone writing about it, but the last few days have seen a noticable narrowing of the gap between Obama and McCain in terms of the percentage of the popular vote they can expect to win.

Real Clear Politics, which takes a weighted average of a number of different polls, shows that between 25th October and the 30th, Obama's lead fell from 8% to 5.9%. This doesn't seem to have affected his lead in terms of electoral college votes (where Obama is currently on 311 to McCain's 142 and 85 "toss ups"), but it still makes me nervous. It is easy to imagine people becoming complacent, and not turning out to vote because they think it is in the bag. I also wonder if the traditional English support for the underdog (I'm thinking of John Major and Spitting Image in 1992) could apply here too, to devastating effect...

Boston V

Drummond very kindly sent me Simon Schama's new book which I am really enjoying. It is full of stories and characters that I had never heard before, and which I expect many Americans are also unfamiliar with (they are unlucky that it won't be published here until June 2009 I think).

One fact struck me particularly: in Mississippi in 1963 (i.e. a full century after political rights were supposedly granted to all) only 7,000 African Americans, of a population of 450,000 were registered to vote. This disenfranchisement was brought about by a combination of intimidation and obstruction (e.g. making black Americans take difficult tests to prove they were qualified to vote which white Americans were never required to take).

It has only been 45 years since the civil rights movement took on the establishment to end this kind of discrimination. It makes it all the more impressive that the country now not only has a black man running to be President, but that he has a great chance (I would need nerves of steel to put it more strongly!) of being elected.

Boston IV

I love this video of high school students singing about the election - it's a shame you can't hear all the words. I keep saying this, but it is testament to the interest this election has generated that a class of 15 year olds (?) can get this excited even though they aren't able to vote.

Boston III

I don't know why, but I've not yet written about the war (probably that should be wars). But they are omnipresent here in a way they aren't at all at home.

I noticed it most listening to people's conversations on buses and trains. I have probably overheard at least four groups of people talking about friends they have who are currently overseas fighting. One girl was berating her friends for failing to stay in contact with someone they had all once been close to, but who had been in Iraq for nearly a year. An old couple were talking about how hard it was for some children they knew to be growing up without their father around. War seems to have intruded into people's everyday lives here much more than in the UK.

I stole this picture from Sarah, who is in Boston for three weeks on a visiting fellowship at Harvard; I forgot my camera when I went out walking today. She pointed these signs out to me. They are all over the city, 'though I saw a particularly high number in a poor neighbourhood called Dorchester. I can't find anything about them on the internet, but apparently they are the names of American soldiers who have died in recent conflicts. I'm not sure if they lived on, or had any connection to, the streets they are assigned, but it's startling to be reminded, on nearly every street corner, of a recent death. And many are well tended (like this one) with flowers and american flags.

Boston II

Re: my post about Colin Powell, Rush Limbaugh is not convinced.

He thinks it is just a simple matter of race: he was struggling to find "all the inexperienced, very liberal white candidates that he [Powell] has endorsed". I have to admit, when I heard him on the radio he scared me.

Boston

Yesterday I watched a rather old and fumbling John McCain on "Meet the Press", and was treated to further slips of the tongue (following "Senator Government"), such as "Joe the Biden". I found him rather flat and uninspired, except on two subjects: the need to lower taxes and his "pride" in Sarah Palin (imagine Obama saying he was proud of Biden).

He was in a difficult position - the interviewer challenged him about the polls which show Obama now having a significant lead in both the popular vote and electoral college votes (Real Clear Politics puts this at 7.3% and +149 respectively). But I was surprised at his line of defence: to flatly deny the credibility of any of these polls, preferring to quote a single poll by Zogby which suggested the Republicans were only trailing by 3-4% ('though if you look at the website you will see the difference was actually 5.3% yesterday, and 4.8% today).

And he talked the talk of a campaign that still believes it can win, even if his doubts about this did seem to come through in his slightly lethargic manner. He claimed that recent rallies had been the most positive and enthusiastic of any he had ever seen, and insisted that his campaign was growing in strength. It gave me the impression he was desperately trying to reassure his core voters, and perhaps even those working on the campaign: there have been reports that Republicans are already beginning a post-mortem on the campaign, and trying to decide who to blame for its failure.

Chicago - Pittsburgh - Philadelphia

Just a few Obama bits:

i) I have stopped noticing, but realised while I was in Chicago just how many people were wearing Obama badges. And not just small ones - really large ones, which they wear on their lapels so that everyone can see. And the variety of them is wonderful - Adam has one written in hebrew (he's living in Pittsburgh's equivalent to Golders Green)!

ii) Urban outfitters are selling this Obama t-shirt, showing just how mainstream and fashionable supporting him has become.

iii) In Philadelphia the other day I came across this barber's shop:
This is all just indicative of the incredible enthusiasm he has generated. The Economist reports that in Pennsylvania alone he has 17,000 volunteers. Yesterday I went food shopping with a middle aged Quaker woman who added champagne to her cart: she finally felt it was safe to expect victory. I heard that the main intersection in a black suburb of Boston was completely blocked the other day by a spontaneous demonstration in support of Obama, everyone carrying banners and signs.

It is, indeed, a very exciting time to be here.

I ❤ Chicago

Let me count the reasons.

Great public transport, tons of cyclists, crisp autumnal weather, neighbourhoods with local high streets and (at least) one great pub that shows the football... hmm - maybe because it's just like London?

Am treating today as my birthday instead as it was so perfect: to start with, the museum was actually open today. Then Arsenal won 4-2. Then the sun came out, and I found a pair of woolly cream coloured tights. And I listened to Sufjan Stevens and danced home.

To top it all, we are about to go to a bluegrass gig!

Joy.

Chicago IV - birthday

It started promisingly enough - I had a lot of lovely birthday messages (thank you!) and I got out on this lovely bike again. I rode the 10 miles along the lake shore from the place where I am staying to the centre of the city, where I left the bike and went for a bit of a wander.

It then deteriorated when I found that the museum I wanted to go to was closed, and the tube line I was close to didn't go to the other museum I wanted to go to... and it was pouring with rain. I decided just to try to get some lunch, but despite this city having a great reputation for food I walked for more than half an hour without finding anything except chains and dives. When I was soaked to the skin and about to give up I thankfully came across a very nice Italian restaurant and warmed up while I waited for my rigatone with wild mushrooms and tomato sauce (which was delicious).

I couldn't face the ride home so I took the bike on the tube (so civilised!).

But the evening was wonderful - one of my hosts made pumpkin miso soup, rice and black-bean-kale-and-garlic stew for dinner, which was followed by birthday brownies (complete with candles). Then we went to the "liquor store" (which prompted a discussion about why off licenses are called that) and spent the rest of the evening sitting around talking, listening to music (handsome boy modeling school, Kate Bush and something Argentinian), drinking and... taking myers briggs personality tests. Many of you will know I have an inexplicable love of these tests, so this was about the best possible way I could have spent my birthday. No, seriously!

Chicago III

Ellie put me onto this, Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama. Sorry it's a little late!

I was struck by Powell's eloquent critique of the differences between McCain and Obama. It was also noticeable that in seven minutes he said nothing about either candidate's policies. He focused on their characters, their different approaches to the campaign, and their personal abilities. Perhaps this shouldn't be a surprise: Powell may still be a Republican in terms of the policies he believes are best for the country, but have been so convinced by these other factors that they overrode his policy instincts.

But if this is the case, it suggests the same could happen to other Republicans. Indeed, the Huffington Post reports CBS's Bob Schieffer: Colin Powell was "saying aloud what a lot of Republicans have been saying privately". Which makes those stories of damascene conversion I was so dismissive of in September, sound rather more plausible.

Musical diversion

I just got really excited because I found that my friend James and I are on the NPR website! Proudest moment of my life.

Chicago II - or "Americans love their dogs"

My first host in Chicago, who I met through Servas, and I went today to a park in the north of the city to... enter her dog into a dog fancy dress competition.

Leaving aside the fact that I am really quite scared of dogs, and being held in a small enclosed park with 60 of them, all off their leashes, for 2 hours is close to my room 101, it was quite an experience.

Joey was our entrant - as Elvis. She ended up winning 3rd prize in the home made costume category:

Other highlights included geisha, police dog, wonderwoman and a pirate:

It was certainly unlike anything I have ever, or would ever, do under my own steam, but then, that's part of the point of this adventure. Only, adventurous in a direction I wouldn't necessarily have expected.

Signs of the times

Sign in a bakery in Seattle
Sign on a suburban street in Boulder - click on it to enlarge, I think it's worth it (it's a public response to a rather angry letter from a neighbour accusing the poster's author of conspiring to murder a bear, calling him septic scum and suggesting he goes "back east").
Protest advert in central San Francisco.

Minot, North Dakota - the final presidential debate

I took a lot of notes, but to be honest, it was pretty boring. Same old same old most of the time - the same stats, the same responses, in a lot of cases even the exact same phrases that have been used in previous debates. This is depressing given the huge amount of material they could potentially discuss - they seem stuck on a few topics.

Listening to it, rather than watching it, made me notice the difference between the candidates' voices - Obama's is deep, soft and rather mellow; McCain's slightly scratchy, higher and certainly less pleasant. But I thought both of them sounded tired, and at times Obama sounded bored of the whole thing. They probably are, but it seems a shame when this may be the last time some people hear them setting out their vision and plans for America.

I feel like I am constantly bemoaning the fact that neither candidate is setting out a compelling vision. I wonder if this is because I am a consultant - and if actually this is the last thing the electorate wants. But still, I can't help thinking that only a vision can really get people excited about this election. I think Obama has succeeded in setting one out for his foot soldiers, but it hasn't made it out to us, (or indeed Joe the plumber), the ordinary observers.

A couple of details took me by surprise. Both candidates plan to end all imports of oil from the Middle East (and Venezuela) within 10 years. Does anyone have any idea what this would do to those countries if it actually happened? It also sound completely unrealistic.

Obama mentioned the story of a woman whose equal pay for equal work claim was dismissed and McCain did not support her case (or perhaps her appeal - I missed some key moments). Does this mean there is no federal equal pay legislation in America?

McCain seems to be accusing Obama of wanting to "spread the wealth around" - when I first heard this I thought that was supposed to be a good thing, but apparently not.

Finally, all this talk about health care is getting me down. Even laying aside (or taking as read - and in need of change) the inequity of the American system, it is stupendously expensive (America spends twice as much of its GDP on health - 16% - as the average for developed countries). Both candidates were asked if they were interesting in containing costs, and of course both said they were. But their strategies for doing so are likely to have minimal impact - making medical records available electronically, tackling obesity and opening more walk in clinics are all good ideas, but they won't save 8% of GDP.

A couple of weeks ago the New Yorker had an ad publicising a request from more than 500 doctors for the candidates to go further and advocate establishing a single payer system, which is something that could dramatically reduce costs. But even with healthcare so high on so many voters' lists of priorities, it looks like neither candidate sees this kind of radical solution as palatable to the electorate.

Thank goodness for North Dakota public radio

I did a very stupid thing, which was to book myself to be on a train during the third, and final, presidential debate. I spent a while wondering what could be done - and was seriously tempted just to plagirise Oliver Burkeman because I have enjoyed his coverage so much.

Instead, I resurrected my radio and after repeatedly finding nothing but static and some unexpected tribal drumming, I managed to find Prairie Public Radio which was running a rather too kind interview with a local politician in run up to the debate.

I had visions of gathering a crowd of politically minded train travellers to the loungue car, and even got permission from the attendant (who sang to us over the intercom five times a day to remind us of the treats she had available) to set up a listen party in her car, but reception was poor and no one had come along to join me so I headed back to my cabin.

On the way back I ran into Rebecca, who had been keen, and Nandan, who she'd met over dinner, and the two of them came back to my (extremely small) cabin, where we cradled and cajoled the radio to try to get better reception. It was maddening until we came into Stanley and transmission got strong enough to be able to hear anything properly. Towards the end of the debate, Rebecca went to get some fresh air when we stopped at Minot, and Betsy came and took her place.

So, we listened hard and in theory I should be able to tell you all about it. But this story is a lot more interesting than the debate was, I'm afraid.

"Empire Builder" - Seattle to Chicago

Though no one specifically asked for it, I think I promised you a tale of train food in the form of photo story. I have attempted this below!

On the first evening everyone at my table chose the four cheese ravioli, which were more appetising than they look! And not too filling, leaving room for the chocolate and raspberry torte which was delicious.

For breakfast the next day, french toast. Accompanied by a series of uncomfortable silences (single travellers are allocated to spare seats with strangers - which can be good and can be really, really awkward).

Lunch was a "garden burger" served with crisps and half a gherkin. And I'm afraid I forgot to take a picture of the key lime pie, but it wasn't what I expected (i.e. a lime green version of lemon meringue pie) - more like a lime flavoured cheesecake with a bit of crumble, or crumbly pie, topping.

Dinner on the second night was identical to the first, except the conversation was notably worse (lunch and dinner only have one vegetarian option each). Oh, except followed by chocolate icecream.

Breakfast I also forgot to photograph (sorry!) but it was rice crispies, a strawberry yoghurt, two wedges of orange and a "biscuit" (dry, savoury scone). And they'd run out of tea!!! Not impressed. Also not impressed to be sat opposite a silent (literally) minister of the church (another table mate informed me) who was the spitting image of Steve Buschemi, and with two rather rabid republicans whose best case against Obama was that he had initially not worn an American flag lapel badge.

Lunch was only available in the dining car between 11 and 12 which seemed just too soon after breakfast for me, so I got another garden burger (this time no relish) from the lounge car - incredible fpod item - vacuum packed for long life, bunged (whole - bun and all) in the microwave for 2 minutes and then it counts as edible. Actually, it did the bun a lot of good: apart from being a bit soggy on the outside (from the condensation) it was nicely chewy and sweet.

Seattle III

Quite a lot of people have asked me to write about Sarah Palin. It sounds like troopergate and Palin in general are generating a lot of interest and excitement in the UK.

But not so here, or at least as far as I can tell. It has, of course, been reported, but it's not a story which is running and running. I don't know why this is. I wondered if it was because the Obama campaign is on a winning streak, feeling positive and like it is winning the arguments, and therefore doesn't feel the need to dwell on negative stories about the other side in order to gain political advantage.

On the other hand, Pierre thinks it's such a minor case of abuse of power, especially compared to what other Alaskan politicians get up to (not to mention Clinton when he was in power) that it is in no one's interest to keep bringing it up.

Nevertheless, Palin doesn't need troopergate to turn people against her. My sense is that a lot of swing voters could see McCain as president but are totally turned off by Palin's extreme views - and this seems to get to the heart of McCain's problem... or even the main problem of democratic politics in general. He is the candidate for a party some of whose views he has long shared (principally, its fiscal ideology), but he is uncomfortable with others, especially the social conservatism of many Republicans. Likewise, social conservatives are suspicious of him, believing (rightly, I think) that he does not share their views on key issues such as abortion.

This may be what has led him to behave really rather respectably in recent days - criticising people at his rallies who shouted abuse about Obama, and conducting similar restraint to the Democrats over Obama's connection with Ayers et al as the Democrats have done over troopergate.

But this restraint, and apparently chivalrous behaviour, is politics too - the CNN response trackers during the debates consistently showed the lowest approval when the candidates attacked each another, and the highest when they set out a vision for how they would restore America to greatness. Both Obama and McCain know where they need to focus in order to impress the electorate.

Seattle II

Walking home last night I began crossing the road, even though it wasn't my right of way. The only traffic was a parked bus, and when it pulled out I ran the rest of the crossing in order not to get in its way.

As I continued along the street, the bus pulled up beside me, driving very slowly and the driver opened the front doors. He was speaking to me but I had my headphones in playing loud Beirut and I couldn't hear what he was saying. But I feared the worst - remembering warnings when I was a child that in some states jaywalking (crossing when it's not your right of way) is illegal...

I finally got close enough, sans headphones, to hear him. He said "I'm sorry I pulled away - were you hoping to get on this bus?"

Seattle

On arrival in Seattle, I managed to get myself and two old Russian ladies locked in a stairwell. Luckily we were rescued after a while by a woman who heard us banging on the door.

I have rather taken against a city in whose main station it is so easy to get trapped... but I have only just arrived; I expect things can only get better.

San Francisco III

Today I took a boat across the bay to a state nature reserve called Angel Island which is another former army base, as well as "the Ellis Island of the west" and an internment camp for Japanese Americans during the war.
It was incredibly creepy, old abandoned buildings and no one about for miles around.

San Francisco II

One really nice thing about America is the street life. Possibly this has something to do with the climate, which encourages people to spend time outdoors with their fellow citizens. Two examples:

In Denver, and again in San Francisco, I saw public chess boards, at which crowds of (apparent) strangers gathered to play each other!

And this morning I saw this group of elderly Chinese women (there was a similar group of men on the other side of the park) doing some kind of co-ordinated dancing (Chinese line dancing?) in the Italian quarter. They seemed unselfconscious in the face of a number of curious photographers.

San Francisco

I was lucky enough to enjoy the best tour imaginable of San Francisco yesterday - on the back of an ancient Vespa! We went right up to the twin peaks for the most fantastic views of the city and the bay, then through Haight-Ashbury (centre of the 1960s hippy revolution) and out to the Presidio - a former army base to defend the Golden Gate Bridge which is now a public park.

It also happens to be Navy week, which means the skies are full of Blue Angels (the equivalent of our Red Arrows) and other stunt planes roaring about and making the good people of California wonder if this is how it feels in Afghanistan...

Santa Cruz IV - an unfortunate accident

Ho ho, this is very silly but it might make you laugh...

Those of you who are friends of 6 Rochester Road will remember that Peter was unfortunate enough to have a strange accident when he was in Santa Cruz - and by terrible co-incidence, during my trip I suffered the same fate! Fortunately my head has now been re-attached to my body, enabling me to resume blogging.

Santa Cruz III - the tree house

My other treat yesterday was a tour of Ned's tree house and grotto. The photos don't need much explaining, it was incredibly beautiful, everything cobbled together from thrift stores and other people's rubbish. To wonderful effect.

Santa Cruz II - the beach

I couldn't help writing to gloat that yesterday I swam in the Pacific. Everyone said it would be too cold. I was even told stories about how my grandpa (a hardened sea swimmer, who has swum north of the arctic circle) threw up after swimming near San Francisco. But it was glorious. There is no other word for it.

(To be fair, it's a lot warmer in Monterrey Bay than it is in the open sea off San Francisco).