After twenty years, I am still not understood by those around me. My husband insists that I speak at least one word each month that he does not understand, or a phrase that makes no sense to him, or an idiom which he cannot decipher.
The threat of severe storms hit our local news and our management agency sent an email, suggesting we watch out for any signs of tempestuous weather, and prepare for flooding. The email, itself, was rather condescending, and followed another giving us instructions about what not to flush down the toilet! The former email, regarding the commodes showed a cartoon character, and was something one might encounter if going to a pre-school facility. The latter, was equally as childish. I wondered if they considered we were all either too young to understand common sense, or too senile to remember! I was rather perturbed that they had the time to send out childish posts, but failed to mail out the important stuff! I have not lived here all my life, but have enough common sense to understand that with the threat of hail comes the threat of damage. Perhaps I am too 'old school'.
We dodged raindrops on Monday. As I drove on Tuesday, along the highway, returning from an appointment, I notice what looked like a drone in the sky. It was above some tall, thin towers, probably electrical pylons of some sort, that are atop a hill/ As I drove, I noticed that it was not a drone, or indeed another form of unidentified hovering object. A cloud was covering the middle part of the pylon. Clouds covered the top of the others. It was the most amazing sight, and one I was sorry I could not capture, but with all the roadworks being carried out, the 'shoulder' is now non-existent, and there is no where to stop! Another 'perfect' road that is 'being improved'. However, I digress. The clouds were exceptionally low, and I wondered if the houses on the hill were actually experiencing the 'coming into land' effect, when a plane comes down from above the clouds. Obviously, being so low, they must have been very heavy and about to burst. Burst, indeed, they did! The rain poured, and poured. Thankfully, it was just rain, but everywhere sparkled when the rain finally stopped and the sun came out.
I decided to recreate a dessert that my mother used to make. Surprisingly enough, to me anyway, the ingredients are all commonplace, and are the same this side of the pond as that. Soured cream, raspberries and sugar. Simple. However, I thought I would attempt it with Indian yoghurt, and strawberries, both of which were in my fridge and needed to be used. I could hear my mother 'rattling' as I sited the mixture. "Why are you altering it!" The dessert, itself, has a history. It was given to my mother by a friend. Same friend introduced her to another lady, who is the mother of the now 'partner' of my kids' dad! I gave the recipe, at one time, to a lady who could not cook, and her family were so impressed they wanted to try it themselves. She told them it had been given to her by a co-worker, who had made her promise not to hand it out, as it was an old 'family' recipe. Nonsense, of course, but she had been hailed a culinary genius and wanted to keep the ruse alive! All this was told as I dished it up! It brought back many good memories. Unfortunately, or perhaps not, the name of the dessert has never been confirmed as the piece of paper on which it was written, was torn, and all that remained was 'raspberry t'. To this day, the delicious sweet is shrouded in mystery, now this side of the pond as well as that!
The new bed that we had ordered, due to the old one being nearly twenty years old, and sagging in parts that had already sagged, was due to arrive last Sunday. Indeed, the mattress came but the box on which it was to sit, did not. Thankfully, we did have a box, albeit in need of renewal as well. In fact, it was in need of renewal twenty years ago, but we never got round to replacing it! The salesman was extremely apologetic and offered us a refund for the base which, of course, we accepted, graciously. The gentlemen who brought the mattress were very upset, and asked if we wanted to reject the mattress. We assured them that we knew it was not their fault, and they became less defensive. Friday saw the arrival of the box. My only problem was that I had removed all my 'wall art' and had not been able to replace it as I did not want a second trip upstairs with large pieces of furniture, to be hindered by frames.
My language was called into question once again, together with pronunciation and spelling. "I thought I would have a tent on my ar. Can you see it"?, said someone to my husband. "I thought about it, but then decided against it, as I had a tent once before, and it proved to be hazardous". I looked out of the window to see what they were talking about. Why would you drive around with a 'tent'? It was only after a few more sentences did I realise they were talking about a 'tint'. "I thought you said a tent", I said. "I did say a tent", said the first person. "You said a tint!" I repeated. "Yes, that is what I said!" It was no use!
It occurred to me that my Texan grandson will be bi-lingual. He will speak both American English and English English. My daughter will also make sure his heritage in cockney rhyming slang will have a part in his life! "Ta!" I say, for 'Thank you" and I am corrected!
I took my book and went to spend a nice, hopefully, quiet afternoon by the pool. As the clouds rolled in, I was sure I would be alone. After a swim, I dozed for a minute or two, and was awakened by the gate opening. It was our Chairman! "Is Dana coming down/?" he asked, to see where he could lay his towel. I told him that I very much doubted it. I made the decision upon the darkened sky. However, my husband did join me! "Do you find the water heavy after rain?" I asked our Chairman. "Dana thinks I am a bit odd, but when it rains, it is buoyant to begin with, but then seems to get heavy. "Or is it you?" said our /Chairman. He explained that there was a study being done in the golfing world, when golfers blame the atmospheric pressure on a poor game. Studies have shown that the person reacts to the heaviness and the person that is altered by the atmospheric pressure. "So, maybe it is not the water, but you". He repeated. I looked at him and said, "Are you calling me heavy?" Thankfully, he knew I was saying this in gest. It is not always the case as humour is very different here, and I often get myself into trouble by not putting my brain into gear!
Sunday morning was very cloudy. We decided to go out for breakfast, 'just because' and headed for the diner. A young man came to take our order. English was not his first language. "Drink what?" he said. We gave him our order. He brought over my breakfast and it was not as I had asked. "I sorry. I speak no much English" he said. At first, I thought he was perhaps from the 'Eastern block'. Russia, or maybe Ukraine, as he had a stereotypical look of an Eastern block gentleman. However, he came from Cuba. "You were wrong", said my husband. "Not entirely", I responded, tongue in cheek. "Allies!" I said. "I don't understand", he said, tongue in cheek!
The rain poured for as I was taking my post breakfast walk, and I ran between carports, sheltering where I could. Another couple of neighbours were doing the same. I was drenched when I got home, which is usually because it is so hot, but the rain was very heavy.
The storms have passed, and the prospect of rain in the future is not good. I can only hope the humidity is not as bad, but that too seems to be a wish that will not be granted. Of course, we are always hopeful that the weathermen have it wrong. Let's wait and see, in ............another story!
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