I find myself thinking about houses quite a lot at the moment. Partly this is because I am wondering what sort of state Wansdyke will be in after so long away. This will be the longest absence ever. Last time I came back to a sequence of disasters mainly relating to cold weather and water flooding problems which took a long time to sort out. Obviously the weather shouldn’t be a problem this time but the discovery that in my absence, herds of Roe and Muntjac deer have been rampaging around in the garden doesn’t sound encouraging. More immediately, thoughts on houses have been encouraged by my current rental here in Newport being almost up. Because I had to stay on nearly three weeks later than originally anticipated, I’ve had to take on a new shorter lease. The new house, 40.5 Roseneath Avenue is just round the corner, tiny, really quite nice but more expensive because the tourist season here is now well underway – and that’s when rentals begin to soar. People are surprised I managed to find it at a nonetheless affordable rate because these places are usually booked out years in advance. Fortunately I have a very efficient lady ‘realtor’ looking after me and always have since I first came five years ago. She also owes me a cup of coffee, I recall !
Moving will be a bit complicated because I am also in the midst of packing for the return to the UK and this boils down to the issue of deciding what I am going to bring back home and what of the mountain of stuff I have accumulated since I have been here, I am going to abandon. This is a major issue but even if I was able to bring it all back I wouldn’t have anywhere to put it all back in the ranch.
I’m still keeping up with outdoor activities as much as possible, although the recent news in the New York Times that acquiring 10,000 steps a day isn’t really necessary for someone like me (in fact 6,000 would do for me as the 'sweet spot' -it's 8,000 for the under 65s) and also its a bit disappointing that isn’t what they call a ‘calory-buster.’ In the course of this exercise I have been keeping an eye on the building of the Green House along Harrison Avenue. Like all the others around here it's unique and built basically of wood. I was amazed at the speed its structure was assembled, and then there was a long period when nothing at all seemed to be happening. To me it looked amazingly vulnerable to fire and/or vandalism. Fortunately the Fifth Ward being such a quiet area, nothing happened. Now, nearly two months later, another frenetic bout of activity. All the windows went in and now they are busy banging in the shingles.
Quite fascinating to watch. With such sights on offer, it is actually quite a pleasure just wandering around the neighbourhood, counting all the flags, American, Irish and Ukrainian in that order and seeing just how different all the houses are from each other- all with their distinctive fancy bits. More often than not these are variations of the porch in which I am currently sitting, typing this as the sun goes down over Newport harbour, glinting on the sails of all the yachts still milling about.
The other thing, apart from yachting that Newport is famous
for are the Mansions on Bellevue Avenue, and having paid my annual fee for
membership of the ‘The Preservation Society of Newport County’ I am determined
to get my money’s worth and see them all for the last time. So this weekend I
took time out from tackling an extremely wearisome PhD
on the evolution of
Chinese maritime law to go and do Kingscote once again.
It was also nice just to wander around the grounds to investigate the trees many of which were simply magnificent specimens- one great beech, its roots oozing out of the ground like those awful things in Lord of the Rings.
It’s a miracle that the place still survives since twice the Society had to beat off determined campaigns from local developers to knock it down for a bigger carpark to the local shopping centre. But paradoxicall,y a glimpse of Viceker’s Liquors through a gap in the trees reminded me I need to refresh the wine cellar so I ended the afternoon bringing back some reinforcements – in a brown bag of course as its illegal to carry uncovered bottles around Newport.
Guns yes, but not bottles. No, actually Rhode Island isn’t like that though an awful lot of states are – and that brings me to my last house reference, namely the state of things over here. Astounding as how Trump kept those classified records in his shower and showed them to his cronies may be, what is even more astounding is the widespread view that this will actually consolidate his current lead in the polls to be the Republican presidential candidate next year. The faithful will gather around him in support against yet another trumped up (!) charge brought by the left wing elitists of the deep state. Meanwhile liberal America, strong in places like Newport watches on in horror. Talk about a political house divided.
However, one thing I have noticed is what seems to be a very strong sense of community here in the US. It's not just a matter of people flying flags, it's the level of shared engagement in local issues. Everything suggested by everyone seems to command a public response, some for, some against. In many cases this ends up being sorted out in the courts. Is a prohibition on exercising dogs without leashes a violation of their owners' constitutional rights ? Although this reflects divisions, at the same time it demonstrates involvement. I'm not at all sure that this is as high in the UK. Perhaps that's why the US economy and so far at least, its political system, seems constantly to defy predictions of disaster. Bearing in mind the alternatives, let's hope it goes on doing so. Mind you, from what I hear from the BBC things seem quite tricky in the UK too. I'm doing my best to keep up so I am not too shocked when I get back.
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