Celebrations
Bryant Park is a city block surrounded by 42nd
and 40th Streets and 5th and 6th avenues and is an oasis
in the busy midtown environment. For the upcoming holiday season (Thanksgiving
and then Christmas) a skating rink has been installed. I called in on my last
evening in New York and found that the park was set out with stalls in the
European tradition of Christmas Markets. There were lots of handicrafts and
fresh produce for sale giving the atmosphere a community feel in this major
metropolis.
Driving
On Sunday morning I set off for New England which is the
cluster of states in the NE corner of the USA between NYC and the Canadian
border. It is also the area where the British first settled the country. Along
with the satnav the rental company also offers a toll pass which is linked to
your credit card for the duration of your rental. This is an excellent idea as
tolls are very common on major bridges and sections of highway. The Interstate
system of dual carriageway freeways criss crosses the entire country is toll
free and was a major infrastructure project from Eisenhower’s administration.
The weather was fine and the highways are designed for easy
exit and entry and I took several by ways and side tracks through little
hamlets. I pulled up at a few points where there were marked walking trails but
I noticed warning signs about ticks. I could not tell if this was just the
usual liability warning in case of litigation or whether I should take it
seriously. The sign went on to describe the four varieties and sources of ticks
that were likely to be encountered in all seasons – including ticks from deer
which usually result in Lyme’s disease. In any event I decided not to chance
it.
This litigation liability issue appears everywhere. On radio
advertisements for pharmaceuticals-there is usually a brief very positive
narrative about the benefits of the product followed by a further narrative of
the dire consequences of possible side effects. Often the latter litany is
longer than the description of virtues!
New London
My first stop was New London in the state of Rhode Island.
This very orderly town was established in 1646 nearly 30 years after the first
settlers arrived at Plymouth. It has a safe harbour and over the years has
become a regional port for the district. It was already decorated for Christmas
and bunting was set up for Veterans Day – a national holiday that was
celebrated the following day. Many of the villages and townships I drove
through seemed to have a similar selection of street names: Main, Elm, First,
Second, Walnut, State etc
The early settlers were motivated by many things - but among
them was religious freedom and most centres had several churches of many
denominations.
Newport Rhode Island
This town had obvious interest as it was the place at which
Australia first won the America’s Cup yachting regatta in 1984. It is a maritime
village with a distinctly British feel to it. It would be chaotic in summer but
I found it a very peaceful sleepy seaside resort and enjoyed wandering around
the seafront and seeing the marinas of opulent yachts.
Plymouth
Later in the day I visited Plymouth on the coast of
Massachusetts. This was the point at which the Mayflower landed in 1620 and a
replica of the Mayflower is tied at port. The town itself is very picturesque
and small despite being the start of something very big.
There were various village celebrations of Veterans Day –
much as happens in Australia with Anzac Day. Americans appear much more overtly
or fervently nationalistic than Australians. Perhaps this is just a personality
difference – but listening to talk back radio the dialogue was quite emotive
and realistic. As in Australia veterans from Vietnam were not warmly welcomed
home. This has compounded much of the trauma experienced by many who took part
in that war whether volunteer or conscript. There are figures about suggesting
that there have been more suicides by Vietnam veterans in the US than there
were casualties in the war – although I am unsure how that could be properly
calculated.
Harvard University
I arrived in Boston late on the Monday evening and the
following day visited my alma mater – Harvard University. It is not well know
that I undertook studies there in 2001 - in the Harvard Business Graduate
School. (It was a sample 3 day Executive program!).
Harvard does have a mystique and its charming campus dating
back to the 1600’s has been host to generations of scholars, presidents and rogues who have
gone on in many cases to deliver fundamental changes to our society.
New Hampshire
From Boston I headed up through New Hampshire, a small but
independent state, and arrived at Littleton in the NW corner not far from the
Canadian border. I spent two nights in the area exploring the White Mountain
Range and National Park. Although the weather was fine and there was no wind it
was -7C at the middle of the day and it was not prudent to take any trail walks
in those conditions. I had a nearly empty bottle of water in my car and was
about to finish it off around midday but the contents had frozen!
I came across the Mount Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods a
resort built pre WWII. There was a famous conference in 1944 with representatives
from 44 allied countries present which met for three weeks with the purpose of
sorting out the post war monetary system for the world economy. It was the
point at which the IMF was founded and a number of other important banking and
trade protocols were agreed. These decisions are all referred to as the Bretton
Woods Agreement.
Hunting
Outdoor pursuits continue year round and in a few weeks much
of this area will be snow covered. There were occasional snow flurries in the
evening and the locals seemed to take this in their stride. In a local paper
there was a picture of a smiling twelve year old girl cradling a rifle with a dead deer
at her feet – the article was celebrating her first kill of the hunting season.
Cross country skiing replaces trail walking once the snow cover is established.
I was surprised to see a sign referring to a Dog Chapel and
I took the turn off and after a mile there was indeed a chapel on Dog Mountain!
The sign said: All Creeds; All Breeds; No Dogmas! I was intending to
investigate the chapel further but there was a large menacing dog barking at
the car.
Perhaps he was the Pastor- who knows?
Vermont
Vermont is very picturesque with valleys slicing through the
Appalachian Mountains and lots of rivers, streams and lakes-many of which were
already frozen. Montpelier is its capital and is the smallest capital city in
the US.
I drove south to Manchester which was the holiday
destination of choice for the well to do in the 1800’s and early 1900’s for the
summer. Graceful large homes on large blocks line elegant avenues and these
have been beautifully preserved.
Abraham Lincoln had three sons but two died in their
childhood. The sole surviving son went on to become a successful lawyer and
industrialist in Chicago and he built a magnificent home he named Hildene just
outside Manchester on a 500 acre property. It was completed in 1905 – the same
year as the Neville residence at Petersham! His granddaughter lived there until
her death in 1975 and there were no other offspring. 
The displays inside are very well done – and include the
grand daughter’s journal. It showed an entry when the grand daughter was apparently
called upon to officiate at the launching of the new US Navy aircraft carrier,
Abraham Lincoln, in May 1960.
She was pretty down to earth and not given to ceremony and
the entry reads something like: “. . . smashed a bottle over a boat and got
home about 7:00pm”!
Federation
The US is a federation of states and they like to maintain a
degree of independence and can levy all sorts of taxes including income taxes.
I was reading an article about the demise of NorthWest
Airlines that went under in the 1990’s and in its hey-day it was very
progressive airline in introducing customer service initiatives. One of these
was serving liquor on flights- but even for that they had to seek permission
from the licencing authorities in each state over which they were flying!
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