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Making an overseas phone call to someone who isn't home - you get charged a full minute (even when though no one picks up at the other end). First time I have ever come across that in any country I have lived. The phone company also whacked a large fee on for calling international mobiles (of which we weren't made aware). I am always amazed, in a country of this size and 'great importance', how far behind the US is on technology and even pharmaceutical products. GSM (Global System of mobile) mobile phones are not available in the US (as at 2002). They have been trying to bring them in but into this, my second year, we are still waiting. These have been available in reportedly 100 overseas countries for many years but still haven't made their way to the USA. I had a GSM mobile while working in Asian and in Australia/NZ. I brought my phone with me but of course I can't use it.
An unusual sight for me to see has been a drive-up telephone box. This is set lower than the regular telephone boxes you see on the streets and they are found in car parks or service stations. You can just drive up in your car, roll down the window and use the phone without ever having to get out of the car. Great for when it was too hot or cold or raining or just being plum lazy.
here
in the States, they are huge pests. These desperate, invaders of your peace
will become your worst nightmare. The computerised calls are the worst because
you cannot tell them to get lost (I'm being polite) and you achieve no satisfaction
in hanging up on the call knowing that no one is aware that you are doing it.
I have deduced that they are all anorexic, never eat dinner and pick this time
to call you to prevent you eating yours. The laughable ones are those that
ring and begin their spiel by saying 'through our competition which you entered,
you have won…' when you never entered any kind of competition knowing that once they got your info, you would never be left alone an no prize was worth that kind of hounding. The ones offering a free trip somewhere to promote their resort or development are absolutely astounded that you would decline such an free opportunity and of course, there are no obligations on you to purchase anything - well of course not!. Then there were the ones that simply didn't seem to comprehend that No means No, don't call again, meant try it and you're fish bate and just which part of this conversation don't you understand. Don't go there… you
may live to regret it. In the end, if it wasn't a name/number I recognised,
I simply didn't pick up. My voice mail message clearly states 'if you're a
telemarketer, please remove our name from your calling list'. By law, they
are then required to do so. A product is out on the market (The Zapper) which will give out a signal to computerised marketers which fools them into believing that the number no longer exists and wipes you off their calling list. There pages and pages on the internet giving advice how to get your revenge on The Telemarketer. On reading these pages I came across a 'wav' file which sounds like a 'no such number' signal the telephone companies produce. They said if you record it to the beginning of your message on your answermachine, this will signal the computerised calls and register you as a number no longer in existance. Well anything's worth a try, so I recorded it at the beginning, left a short pause, then recorded the rest of my message. I have to say that it has stopped the computerised calls ending up on my answer-machine and hopefully we are also being delisted! Ingenious and free.
They are not the type of mobile home parks that you might find in NZ/Australia/UK, they are more like gypsy camps and in general, the assumption is that many of the inhabitants do not work. They are given a rather bad name and in some instances it applies - others it doesn't. These trailer park homes are also a lot cheaper than purchasing a regular house and can be purchased for a deposit as little as $500. To me its better than renting but it doesn't seem to be looked at that way here. There is a real stigma attached to the homes and those that live there.
Mobile homes or RV's (recreational vehicles) are also popular with the retired sect who travel around the country, usually in groups, in search of a better climate at certain times of the year. I guess the difference between mobile homes and trailer park homes is that most trailer homes cannot be moved - or certainly not easily. Trailer parks seem to be also constant targets of tornados which appear at times to seek them out.
'Trailer Trash' is a term unkindly given to inhabitants of these parks and most who appear on the Jerry Springer Show are prime examples of this term. Check out the creditials for this title on my Humour page.
As unpredictable at times as Melbourne (Australia) but you can count on it being dammed hot in summer, sometimes reaching 106F (41/42C) and with no rain for weeks on end. Humidity is high and pollen, various weed and mould, plays havoc on allergies. In the past I have never been afflicted with allergies but my first year here, my eyes were badly affected. I think I have now acclimatised and do not seem to have further problems. Spring (March - May) is tornado season. During this time there is a reasonable amount of rainfall (severe flooding in some areas) with hailstones as big as softballs at times.
The alerts for tornado's go from a 'Tornado Watch' (there is a possibility of one happening, 'Tornado Warning' (meaning one has actually been spotted or is indicated on the radar) and 'Tornado Touchdown' , and you want to hope the latter is not around you. When any kind of alert is out, a message scrolls across the bottom of the TV. Counties also have their own tone alerts and regular testing of our area is held once a month for several minutes over loud speakers.
While most of Texas is not known to be overly cold during the winter months (although it got down lower than I was used to), we have had snow for a day. It never lasts for long on the ground but it causes havoc on the roads. Large trucks carrying sand are quickly dispatched during ice storms to cover bridges and hazardous areas. A good time to stay off the roads - a huge amount of accidents occur. The result of the ice storms on covering everything is quite amazing to the first time viewer. Having central heating in winter when you are not necessarily used to it gives a false sense of the climate 'outdoors', as does air-conditioning in summer - in reverse.
The temperatures of course are in Fahrenheit and I am used to Celsius. I have a temperature gauge outside my kitchen window which shows both ways of measuring. I can never convert easily between them without having a conversion chart in hand. Being Texas it doesn't just recognise 4 seasons… it has to have 6:
This is the name given to all the wonderfully expressive ornaments etc that some people choose to scatter around the front yards. I still can't work out whether these creative souls are just having some fun and giving the rest of us a laugh or whether they take their innovative frontages seriously.
We are not talking tasteful Japanese lanterns or Grecian urns or even the 'done to death' invincible garden gnome, but decidedly tacky adornments in all subject matter you can think of. Once, shocking pink flamingos were apparently the much loved 'yard art' to have about your home. Now these emaciated looking birds have become almost passé.
Sure, at Christmas time everyone goes a little nutty with the festive embellishment of their homes from as little as a Christmas tree in the front window to the whole front lawn looking like it has the beginnings of a new power company starting up. The 4th of July brings out (if they are not already displayed permanently) all the American flags large and small both up flag poles and on little sticks stabbed around the garden. Red, white and blue bows drape from mail boxes and front doors, but you come to get used to all that here on the various holidays. However, the plastic and wooden flowers planted in the gardens to give year long colour, the wooden cats scampering up trees, Texas water windmills, wooden Dutch windmills, wishing wells, cut out little girls bearing their britches not to mention all the other animals and insects propped here and there is quite a sight to behold and needs a double take in some instances when driving by. I did rather like however, the metal stand-up cowboy with the dog - but in the right environment. The other thing that gets me is the garden swings, lawn chairs or just sun chairs parked in the front 'yard'. IIn a street not far from us, there was an armchair which sat out in all weathers in front of closed garage doors. I never saw anyone sitting there and it was certainly prominent. Finally some one had the good sense to push it a little further to the curb and it was picked up by the trash man. Unlike at home (unless we have a veranda,) people here like to sit in their front yards in full view of everyone going past (we tend to like the privacy of our back yards for this). Even the collapsible sun chairs in the fronts of houses never move. I am surprised they are never stolen.
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