12 April 2009
Easter by the seaside
Easter doesn’t appear to be a big celebration here in the US. Normally its not much of a holiday for the school kids by UK standards, as they have only Good Friday and Easter Monday off. This year in Houston we are still feeling the effects of Hurricane Ike so Easter Monday is a normal school day, to make up for time lost in September when there was no power. Another noticeable difference between the UK and US Easter holiday is the lack of large chocolate eggs. You can get chocolate eggs (including imports from the UK) but its clearly…
22 March 2009
Houston Rodeo
Just picking up the telephone directory sized programme for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo makes you realise that this is a very big event. It turns out that this is the largest event of its kind in the world. Held over 20 days, the event has been running since 1932 and attracts close to 2 million visitors a year. Many travel to the Houston Rodeo on one of the “trail rides” that end up in Houston just in time for the big parade which opens the event every year. The first trail ride was started in 1952. Called the…
08 February 2009
Don’t bet on the Washington Generals
The Harlem Globetrotters beat the Washington Generals again yesterday in a game played at Houston’s Toyota Center. This means the ‘Trotters have not lost a game since since 1971. Surely it can’t all be staged? Well it turns out that the original Harlem Globetrotters didn’t even come from Harlem, New York. Instead they were formed in Chicago in the 1920s. The name “New York Harlem Globetrotters” was used to create some mystique. The team didn’t even play in Harlem until 1968. They originally played real games but gradually became better known for entertaining that real sport. It seems that when…
02 February 2009
Groundhog Day
Punxsutawney, PA is only about 85 miles from Pittsburgh, home of the Steelers who beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 in yesterday’s Superbowl. The Superbowl, in case you don’t already know, is like the FA Cup on steriods. Superbowl day is the top “at-home” party event of the year in the USA, ahead of New Year’s Eve and is second only to Thanksgiving for food consumption. Nothing escapes Superbowl treatment, including last Friday’s school lunch options which included “football-shaped chicken nuggets”. Anyway, back to Punxsutawney: Phil is Punxsutawney’s most famous resident. Phil is a groundhog, otherwise known as a woodchuck (“How…
23 January 2009
Harmony, Democracy, Freedom, Cup-cakes, Crumbly-Candy-Bars...
Did you know that if James Earl Ray hadn’t shot him in 1968, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr (who presumably still holds the record for the most pre- and post-nominals ever) would have been 80 this year? We, along with the rest of the US, celebrated his birthday on Monday. Martin Luther King, Jr Day is observed on the third Monday of January, which is near his real birthday of January 15th. Interestingly, although he was assassinated in 1968 it took until 1986 before this holiday was observed, and even then it was not recognised properly everywhere. Its…
05 January 2009
12 Days of Christmas, Texas Style
The period between Christmas Day and Twelfth Night was traditionally known as Christmastide and has long been a time for over indulgence in all manner of ways. But how’s it done Texas Style? Well in our case... On the first day of Christmas, we... Saw our neighborhood light up with Christmas lights that would make Chevy Chase (in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) envious, such as these: Despite the poor state of the economy, it was clear that the electricity industry would not be suffering. On the second day of Christmas, we... Won prestigious awards from the Woodlands Masters Swim Team…
11 December 2008
Another night in Toronto - but not by design
From Toronto its on to Ottawa, or more specifically Kanata, the high tech town to the west of Canada’s capital city. Unlike in the USA, people in Canada seem to walk around a lot more (we enjoyed a brisk walk to Kanata’s “Local Heroes” bar and grill; it was -16C outside). Whilst it may seem that Canadians are obviously keen on health and fitness as well as recycling there may be a simpler reason for their choice of transportation: So how nice would it be in this weather to find a Starbucks for a nice hot cup of coffee? Well…
09 December 2008
Big things in Toronto
Until September last year the CN Tower in Toronto was the World’s tallest building at 1,815 ft high (as usual nothing is straightforward as that - there has been much controversy over this title, since the tower is not officially a building, so it has been named “World’s Tallest Freestanding Structure”, “Tallest Tower”, “World’s Tallest Freestanding Tower” and so on). Anyway, if you’re the kind of person that thinks such records should only go to buildings (or structures, or towers, or freestanding towers or structures) that are finished then it still is the “World’s Tallest...<insert your preferred non-controversial term here>”…
08 December 2008
YYZ, Eh?
Those of you who are seasoned travellers will recognise the International Air Transport Association code for Toronto’s Pearson International Airport (followed by the inevitable ”Eh” that follows almost everything Canadian’s say). Those of you who are fans of Rush, surely Toronto’s finest export, will recognise the much loved instrumental track from their magnificent 1981 (quadruple platinum) album “Moving Pictures”. This particular live rendition of YYZ is from the final concert of the Vapor Trails tour (2002-2003 - I saw them twice during this tour) and takes place in Rio de Janeiro in front of 40,000 people (The previous night the…
02 December 2008
How you know there is a recession
Officially the US is in a recession, which is good news for gas prices (crude oil futures are now below $50 a barrel so the current prices of $1.60 to $1.90 a gallon are likely to get lower still - and it only costs $25 to fill the car up at the moment!). According to the Houston Chronicle, sales of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese rose 9.6% from last year. This dish was invented during the Great Depression of the 1930s because it was cheap and easy to make (and didn’t require hard to get meat). Talking of meat, Hormel Foods…