A Day in the Car

Image found on flickr.com and is of Landyriog (spelling?) Church in Wales.



Is there any way to wrangle more time in the day? Or perhaps a way to clone myself so I can be in two places at once? I still haven't been able to sit down and write for NaNoWriMo, but I've managed to get everything else done. I'm too tired to try and write, although I'm very excited watching the election returns. Excited and hopeful.

The Hubster and Pianist and I voted this morning. Well, at least- Hubster and I did. I had Pianist 'click the boxes' while I watched over his shoulder. As a seventh grader he doesn't realize the magnitude of what he did this morning. Maybe it will come to him in time. I know I'll never forget it. But back to the height thing- I looked barely over his shoulder, at that. The young man started the summer just as tall as his sister, but is now pretty much my height. That would be a difference of approximately 4". And, yes, we have had to buy all new jeans and khakis for him.

We had to drive quite a ways down state for a funeral and further still for the graveside service. In heavy rain and fog. It's sad when you only meet some of your kinfolk at funerals and weddings. You feel more disconnected from each other, I suppose. More funerals than weddings lately, unfortunately. There are several generations of my husband's kin buried there. I managed to get one of my husband's uncles to explain to me who they were in relationship to myhusband and I and to each other. They go a long ways back in this cemetary. It's nice to see a large family group together. I felt a sudden sense of history and connectedness with these long dead family members and the living ones.

As the rain patttered down around us I looked up and around and wondered why it is that we suburbanites often allow trees to go unpruned only in cemtaries? The trees in the cemetary had full round canopies, which is rarely seen anywhere else because of power lines. Trees, fully grown, mature trees, are so symbolic arching and spreading above the gravestones and monuments.

Observations

A few weeks back I borrowed a book of short stories from the library. In it was a fantasy written by an Aussie writer named Bill Congreve. I can't find anything by him in our local library, any of the local bookshops or via our interlibrary loan. Now a mild interest has blossomed into mild obsession. What else has he written and where can I find it?! I might be able to find him via Amazon, but the shipping from Aussie to eastern US is likely scary, scary.

Yesterday I found myself sandwiched between a giant tow truck pulling an 18 wheeler and a tour bus careening down I 495 at breakneck speed. I felt like I was driving in the Grand Canyon- dark, looming and squished. I managed to get away from them just in time to look up and see what seemed to be a quarter of a mile of wild wisteria (the lavendar colored variety) heavily in bloom growing up and over the sound barriers. They drooped in heavy swags along the edge of the road like ostrich plumes on an old picture hat. Absolutely gorgeous.

Hubby and I had dessert with a friend and her adult nephew, who is in town for the weekend. He's never been on an airplane, been out of his home state. There are still people out there who don't travel! Can you believe it?? Not even in-state or driving. I digress. We had a fantastic time, played Sorry and the Washington DC Monopoly. Supposedly the short version, but we ended at 11 pm & still weren't done. Our hostess beat us all soundly, but we had a fabulous time. We even came away with a delicious bottle of white wine, which we shall share for my birthday next month.

It's nice to hear insights from a newcomer, particularly one who doesn't travel. He was amazed at how polite people are here. Seriously. I don't associate rudeness with city folk, brusque perhaps, but not rude. Nevertheless, I was surprised to hear him say that. Then I thought that maybe he was expecting awful, horrid behavior from us city rats and was then surprised when it wasn't true after all?? He'll be in church tomorrow, so I can't wait to hear all about his adventures around town.

Just finished reading Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Thoughts posted tomorrow.

Passport Update

The new regs were pubbed this morning by the state dept. Link in the title. According to the statement, land & sea travelers won't need passports until Jan. 2008. Supposedly, the gov't wants passports to let us back into our own country if we manage to escape I mean travel outside our borders. In other words, they'll let you out, but-like the dog on the wrong side of the door, you won't be allowed back in.

Passports anyone?

Last Wednesday Karen put up a post about Americans' apparent dearth of passport ownership. I admit the subject rarely came up here at Bookwormom Central, despite living in Washington DC. It surely must be odd to Anyone Else living on our little blue marble, but until this month we Americans didn't need to have a passport to travel just about anywhere on this entire continent. Canada, Mexico, numerous little Carribean idylls? All passport unnecessary.

Not only that, but the individual American states do not require passports as official documnetation for various legal purposes. It is an option, one of many, on lists of acceptable documents in situations where we might need to prove our identity. Until January 2007, passports haven't been a necessary expense.

According to the official State Department website, a passport for an Adult costs $97 as of March 2005. In other currencies- 75 Euros, 123 Australian dolars, 114 Canadian dollars or 49 pounds Sterling per passport.

As a child I grew up in northern New England, very near the Quebec border. Once upon a time, all you needed to drive into Canada & return home was a US driver's license. As recently as 1994 & 1995 I've driven into Mexico (via South Padre Island) without needing any documents to drive up & down the island. Two years ago we went to the Bahamas for a week. None of which required us to have passports.

Speaking strictly for myself- international travel is increasingly expensive & out of reach for your average Jane America. The exchange rates alone are a killer, especially for the UK! The cost of 2 passports would be $194 plus processing time. It's cheaper to remain in country and have that 'extra' $194 to spend on food, drinks, souvenirs, etc.

For example, if Mr. Bookwormom & I wanted to drive up to Niagara Falls NY & Canada, a mere 503 miles (809 kilometers) from my home, a hard day's drive if you do it right; we can't take a boat over to the Canadian side unless we have passports. Now, I don't know how strictly they enforce these things, but technically we'd need a passport to simply float over the border under the Falls. That added $194? Could be gas money. T shirts. Chips at an Atlantic City casino.

For myself it has less to do with xenophobia than simple economics. As made obvious in Hurricane Katrina, there are many, many Americans living on the knife's edge of economic survival. Yet we all need to get away. The new passport laws make even quick getaways more expensive even for those who live right on the border. We are a country deeply divided between the haves and the have nots. Travel is rapidly becoming another symbol of this divide.