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| Merely beautiful: the Lake of the Eagles |
| Living in Walthamstow and working in Ealing acclimatises me to long journeys, so the jaunt over the Atlantic for a long weekend in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania became, at least in my tortured logic, just a few extra stops on the Piccadilly Line. I was pleased to find that the contents of this website do not appear to have been pored over by the Department of Homeland Security, the CIA, the FBI, Rush Limbaugh, Jessie Helms, and the cast of Sesame Street, so the cheery immigration officer let me in, my digitised fingerprints retained: I do not appear to be any threat to the American Way of Life. Some of the visa waiver questions are cute though: in an effort to ready the unsuspected traveller for American Society I am asked to declare whether I prefer my eggs over-easy or sunny-side up ( this always catches out the Nazi War Criminals and the terrorists); I am also handed a 400 -page synopsis of every obscure American TV comedy series from 1946 |
| Here's my grandmother improving her swing: a place in the next Curtis Cup is still up for grabs. |
| onwards, so that visitors to the USA are not disadvantaged when they play their American relatives at Trivial Pursuit, using the local edition . I am grateful for this help, and a famous victory is duly won three days later after some fervent swotting. The various branches of the family descend on an unsuspecting Eagles Mere: it's rather as if the cast of several books have all come to life and we interact as if we are are all appearing in some bizarre compilation novel for a few hours, before we're all packed off back to our individual plotlines, not all of them involving either Walthamstow or Council Tax. .Mo's official 80th birthday celebrations are marked at a local winery, and I am on my best behaviour, not mentioning the election once. |
| Mo and her birthday cake |
| Here's Po, looking only faintly ridiculous, with his sister, honorary great-aunt Charlotte. |
| Po though, is irrepressible: "This is Mike," he says to one of the most republican of his neighbours "he's a socialist and a BIG fan of Michael Moore!" I am subjected to a steely look of determination from the said Republican, and he launches a pre-emptive defence of the President before I can draw breath or marshall any kind of liberal doublethink. |
| Despite the brief nature of our stay, I find my time in Eagles Mere refreshing and regenerative. Occasionally the conversation does veer to the political: "Look at their wives!" is Auntie Viv's take on who should win her vote, before she consoles me with the thought that "whichever m*th**f**k*r gets anything out of this sh*t gets my vote". I go and consult Mo's Buddha shrine in the garden, although I am provided with few answers there. A pity, as I know that Buddha has voted for the Democrats since at least Adlai Stevenson's time. |
| A Buddha, nowhere near suburbia. |
| All too swiftly it is time to face that great Underground of the air once again. I am able to devote a little time to sightseeing in Philadelphia, although I am somewhat disconcerted to discover that the Liberty Bell is situated in the airport departure lounge and is in fact made of lego. Who would have thought that liberty would be so easy to take apart? |
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| to more photos of my American relatives from 2002 |
| to October's front page |
| to the Eagles Mere website |
| to the quick menu |