The Willimers in America

My New Snowblower

Being a homeowner now, I feel my resistance to the acquisition of the trappings of the American Dream slowly slipping away. And if you're a regular reader here, you'll know that there was very little doubt that the first step was going to be the purchase of a seriously serious snowblower. It took one simple forecast of a four inch snowfall to galvanise me into action. I am now the proud owner of a Craftsman 6.5 HP Briggs & Stratton OHP powered snowblower with a 24 inch path and two-stage action. And very nice it is, too.

9 Years Old - Wow !

Linda and I felt really guilty after Toms birthday last week. He woke to a much smaller pile of presents than usual, and the brand new bike we bought him as his 'big' present stayed shut in the garage, rendered unusable by the 3 inches of snow that fell on Tuesday. He got on the bus and went to school - like any normal day - then later, after he had built his Lego model, he couldn't be persuaded to go out for a birthday meal - not even to Dave & Buster's, 45 minutes away and a video-game players dream ! I fetched take-out pizza and we sat and watched TV for the evening. All in all, a little disappointing - there was a certain air of melancholy around him as he went to bed that night.

Friday was Ryan's birthday - Ryan is a work colleague and good friend of mine who Tom also considers to be a friend rather than the uncle figure he might be. Ryan had invited a party out for a meal and a movie, so as we were going to see Chronicles of Narnia (very good, BTW) Tom was invited along too, and had a rather good time.

Next day, Tom had returned the favour by including Ryan along with his school friends in the invitation to Lazerpark. It didn't take much prompting for me to be enthusing about the great time we'd had last year, and how engaging it is to be shooting fellow players with a laser gun in a half-lit dayglo warehouse. A much better time was had here than on Thursday, including pizza, ice cream cake and a fantastic new Lego Ferrari Spider from Tom's friend Luc among the much bigger pile of presents.

I've got less and less enthusiastic about my birthday as the years go by, blase about the passing of the years, and inured to the lack of specialness so close to all the Christmas festivities. Linda does her very best to make it special for me (I'm still anticipating that very special present from her) - but now I'm wondering whether Tom's birthday will start to go the same way as mine. Hopefully it was just slightly lost this year, among the work pressures, Niagara trip, basement remodelling, snow days and Christmas preparations...

Niagara - Day 3/4

We woke on Saturday morning to find an inch of snow had fallen overnight, and a fresh fall was just beginning. Our new found skill of 'getting up and getting on' stood us in good stead, and we were on the road in no time. Good thing too, as the snow seemed to be getting thicker and thicker. We had to find petrol and breakfast quickly on the road (Tom ate pancakes, sausages and about 8 hash browns at the first McDonalds we came across), but as we left Niagara we seemed to be heading away from the worst of the weather. The sky stayed grey and heavy throughout the journey, full of snow-laden clouds, but as we travelled east, and the skies lightened slowly and almost imperceptibly, it seemed like we were watching the movie of our Thursday journey backwards.

We arrived in Cooperstown, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, in mid-afternoon. Cooperstown is a bit of a one-trick pony, based around its single (but enormous) claim to fame. The main street is pretty and 'olde world'y, full of baseball memorabilia shops, and cafes with names like "The Home Plate". It may be a centered entirely around its tourist industry, but it does it in a considered and charming way.

The Hall of Fame itself was very impressive, even to one who was not immersed in the culture of baseball as a child. Baseball is as big a business as it is a sport, which means that the teams themselves can provide a level of funding that allows the Museum to be done in a very classy fashion. Every sport should have a facility like this, and I only wish there was a UK Football Hall of Fame like this.

We were staying the night locally, but by the time we had found our hotel, checked in and had a quick swim,  Thomas could not be persuaded to go out again to eat. So instead, I did a lightning tour of the take-out restaurants in the shopping plaza next door - and returned to the hotel with Pizza Hut pizza for Thomas, with fries from McDonalds, a chinese take-away for Linda and I, and beer and ice-cream from the supermarket. Everything was still pretty warm by the time I got back, and of course we had far too much food for three of us.

Next day we headed to Oneonta, to visit the US Soccer Hall of Fame. For obvious reasons, this facility was much smaller (there are few fewer things to exhibit) but it was done pretty well, and had a number of activity-based installations for the kids, including a mini soccer court, where Thomas played in a 2-a-side game with some older boys. Our only complaint was the price of souvenirs in the gift shop. We left at lunchtime to complete the last leg of our journey with a 4 hour drive.

By the time we got home, we had driven over 960 miles, stayed in two hotels, been in the car for around 20 hours - all within the space of three and a half days. And if that wasn't even, we were steeling ourselves for the onset of the busiest period of the year. Thanksgiving sees the back of November, and ushers in December which includes two birthdays as well as Christmas - much festivities to follow...