Summer Holiday

Tomorrow we are going on vacation. We will load up our minivan (that’s a people carrier to you, but a lot bigger), and drive to Pagosa Springs in Colorado, via Dodge City. This is the equivalent of driving from Calais to Toulouse, but it’s only the next door state. You have to think big when travelling in America. There will be almost nothing on the way except a big amount of very flat farmland. Until we get to the mountains of Colorado, which are also big. Bigger than the mountains in Britain. Everything in America is bigger than in Britain. In fact, it is very hard to think of anything that isn’t. I’ve been trying. I’ve been getting rather irritated. There must be SOMETHING that is bigger back home. It’s remarkably difficult to think of anything at all. Houses, kitchen appliances, cars, portions in restaurants, supermarkets, supermarket trolleys, people, their teeth, medical bills, summer temperatures, everything is bigger over here.

I have finally come up with a list of three things. This was after much thought, so please don’t knock it.

1) The cost of living. Britain has a higher cost of living than America.
2) The royal family. We have a bigger royal family.
3) Holidays. In Britain, the legal minimum is 4 weeks a year, and in 2009 this is increasing to 28 days. In America, I think the standard is about 2 weeks.

So, given that I didn’t think you would raise a cheer for the cost of living, let’s say hurrah for the royal family and hurrah for holidays!

I digress. All this talk of big things started because I was telling you about me and my family, loading up our huge great minivan and driving off on vacation. I think they call it a road trip. If you want to know what I'll be feeling like at the wheel, click here (you know I’m not techie enough to upload it here). So bye for now, off I go, and no more blogging for a week or two.