Musings on a trip
to the USA and other Things
By David Lott, Englishman, Political Observer
My granddaughter has just started an 8-year course to become a veterinarian.
She is a US citizen and has worked immensely hard for her place at Colorado State University at Fort
Collins. Kathy and my visit there was a real eye opener - the campus is truly
superb and the facilities outstanding including accommodation for the new intake.
David's wife Kathy and granddaughter Linda at Colorado State University
It was the first
time I have visited a grand ‘child’ standing largely on her own two feet and if
the quality of her and her classmates is anything to go by, then the USA has
little to worry about. Linda has a mind of her own and an opinion upon many if
not most of the major issues of our times.
She also has that rarest of things in today’s world; an open mind!
She works very hard indeed as she will not know for the best
part of 4 years whether she will be accepted for the following 4 years at CSU
to achieve her aim. She will get a degree after 4 years but to succeed she
needs exceptional results to go on to become a vet. Especially at this
university at Fort Collins, Colorado as it enjoys a reputation
in her field second to none.
Such a level of determination needs
feeding, and we had a couple of outstanding meals in the delightful town with
up market and interesting shops and restaurants. It is a highly sophisticated
place as is Denver our next port of call.
In Denver we
were brought up to date by our erstwhile neighbours in France. They owned the
Chateau at the end of a tree lined avenue at the other end of which stood our
rather more modest abode. Although our politics are a little different (they
definitely do not support President Trump) they are fair-minded and we covered
a lot of common ground. We found Denver a hive of building activity;
the city is an upcoming major centre with high tech moving in with a great deal
of money.
On a relaxed 10-day journey from
there to Houston, Texas we saw much, with glorious views and
autumn colours, abounding in the Rockies.
In western New
Mexico we were staggered by the sheer scale of fracking for oil and gas. A vast area of
largely poor sage brush land is being developed, and it continued without a
break for 70 miles either side of the road deep into the hinterland. It was
truly humming with large RV and mobile home parks for temporary workers and
what seemed like thousands of trucks and construction sites.
The US has the space, the resources, and the will to make this work.
To be independent of the Middle East in terms of energy production
seems a laudable goal.
Houston some 5
weeks after hurricane was bewildering. It was immaculate! We did not see it all of
course because of the size of this huge ultra-modern conurbation but we did see
much of the western side including the city centre. Everything but everything was
in perfect order. What a testament to the authorities and their preparedness
for this event and the way the water levels were managed during the storm. Our
local authorities England would have been out of their depth!
My son and his family live just outside the city. Their daughter
was away in Fort Collins of course and the first to have flown the
nest. He is in the oil business as a senior engineer with Mitsubishi. They own
a house which probably cost the same as our modest house in West
Sussex but it is large airy comfortable with a very grand staircase and
would cost treble the price if it were in southern England. My
daughter-in-law likes President Trump’s policies but not the man himself which
seemed to be true of quite a few residents.
Throughout the trip I intentionally wore a cap with ‘Make
Britain Great Again’, emblazoned on the front. It was a pleasant surprise that
people loved it even in New York. It seems that citizens throughout the
west love their customs, way of life, food cultures and history all of which
give a country its identity wherever you are. Those with a globalist agenda
cannot seem to grasp this basic urge.
By globalist I do not mean those wanting free trade alone but
those with a different agenda that includes the deliberate imposition of mass
immigration. Such dismantling of borders as outlined as an ultimate aim by
Hillary Clinton and here in Europe by the leaders of the EU and
enthusiastically endorsed by Angela Merkel have led already to increased crime,
terrorism and unrest.
David's wife, Kathy, and son and daughter in law in every growing Houston, Texas!
That political parties labelled ‘extreme’ are on the rise comes
as a result of the blindness of their leaders. Nor do I subscribe to the idea
that the US has no identity because of a shortish history. Indeed, it
was abundantly clear in New York that rich, poor and the in between
mix wonderfully there. Whatever the race,
they are all New Yorkers and American despite the mix. It is what makes the
place so vibrant. But this is a triumph of assimilation not isolation within
communities.
So from New York it was home on the magnificent Cunard
ship Queen Mary 2. During a live performance on board in the middle of
the Atlantic we were hit by a rogue wave in a relatively calm sea.
The act was a single female singer accompanied by a pianist at a grand piano.
As the wave hit the piano started to slide but the pianist bravely continued to
play! The piano continued to slide, and the singer rushed to help the pianist
desperately now pushing back against the weight of the piano whilst still half
sitting on his stool. They were joined at last by a stage hand and as the ship
righted the slide was controlled and stopped. Whereupon the pianist sat down,
the singer returned to her microphone and together they picked up the song at exactly the point at which they were
interrupted to the tumultuous cheers of the audience! Tres cool.
On the QM2 there are educational and current affairs talks and I
was so pleased to hear a New York Times journalist give a series of talks on
the state of US politics with particular reference to President Trump and
Hillary Clinton. I expected him to excoriate Trump and praise Hillary, but he
was scrupulously fair and honest about the two of them. Maybe some of the MSM
are getting the message that ‘honesty is the best policy’!
We also had a geologist talking about the energy industry and he
too captured his audience’s attention. The last of his lectures concerned
climate change. Using data from eons ago to the present day, much of it from a
geologist’s perspective, he debunked the idea that man is altering the climate.
That the climate is changing he agreed but very gradually, naturally and
independently from Man’s activities. The geological activity that results below
and above the sea resulting in volcano and geothermal activity utterly dwarfs
any small impact by man was just one of his compelling arguments.
And so back home to
Blighty where the irrelevant pygmy politicians of the UK were still
betraying our Brexit vote and arguing, speculating and pontificating on much
but dealing with nothing. It seemed at the same point where it was before we left a
month before. How deadly.
But we live in an old fashioned little town at the foot of
the South Downs and the countryside is glorious. And at the age of 77
I start a new part time job in February for a few days a month as a volunteer
guide at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum. Tangmere is
where my father was based in 1940 where he commanded a Hurricane squadron in
1940. It also houses a Harrier aircraft that I flew several times 40 years ago!
It is all very apt.
Toodle Pip – David Lott,
retired pilot and RAF officer and whose father was seriously wounded in the
1940 Battle of Britain
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