This week in America-land...

Spotted at my son's soccer game this week, was this slogan on a shirt.  Each to his own and all that, but really?!

I do enjoy a bit on the side.  No, not the naughty, Benny Hill style, I'm talking condiments, sauces and the like.  I still miss the condiments that I love from back home.  Strangely enough, two of my favorites are dark brown in color and very strongly flavored - just like Marmite really, which I've talked about in previous posts.  First up is Branston Pickle.  Dear God, just mentioning this makes my mouth water.  A pickle in America is green, looks like a small cucumber and is very strange tasting.  Pickle back home is dark brown, crunchy, full of flavor, tangy and goes amazingly well with cheese and crusty bread, on a sandwich or with a Ploughman's Lunch.  Most decent pubs at home will have a Ploughman's on offer, I'd take that any day over the American pub favorites of wings, nachos etc.   Another thing missing on the menu over here is HP Sauce.  Brown, fruity, tangy, spicy, I suppose it's the American equivalent of Barbecue Sauce, but it's so very different.  One of the first things I'm going to eat next time I'm in Scotland will be a huge fried breakfast with bacon, eggs, potato scone, black pudding, fried tomato, beans and a huge dollop of HP Sauce on the side.  Ketchup just doesn't cut it! 

My early morning run was rudely interrupted the other day by some JACKASS who obviously thought I needed a drink, so he threw his huge soda cup out of his truck at me!  What the heck?!  I was mad and started gesturing and yelling, but quickly reeled myself back in just in case he turned around and came back with something worse, like a gun or something.  His truck was old and battered and he was obviously kinda redneck.  Oh the joys of road running in Tennessee :)   One thing I have noticed on my road runs is that the preferred drink of choice for drivers or their passengers is Natural Light Beer.  The roadside is usually littered with empty cans of Natty Light, obviously the choice of the discerning drink driver who then chucks it out the window when he's done!  Further adventures in running this week include watching a very obviously drunk/high guy staggering down the road with his butt visible over the top of his pants.  Something I can't erase from my memory unfortunately!  And finally, some character felt the need to stick his arm out his window as he drove by and actually took my photo - this totally freaked me out!  But, another day, another adventure I guess!

Does anybody else enter the competitions on HGTV?  The prizes are just too good not to - homes plus cash or thousands of dollars for home improvements.   I enter each and every one of them to no avail - apart from the fact that I get bleedin' carpal tunnel syndrome from all the keyboard action filling out the entry forms!  C'mon HGTV, give a girl a break (or a prize)!

Anyway, that's it for this week, not too much to report.  I'm going to start taking my phone with me when I run so that I can record some of these incidents that seem to happen on a regular basis!   Stay safe out there my friends! 

Aches and Pains

I'm injured and feeling whiny.  I have a  bulging disc which is causing sciatic pain in my glute  - literally a right pain in the butt!  I'm not happy, I've been running sub 9 minute miles recently, loving my hot yoga and feeling stronger and fitter than I ever have.  Now I have to rest, which I hate.  But you know what, if I have to be injured, I'm actually glad I'm injured in America!  Let me explain. 

Firstly, healthcare over here is complicated, different in each state and I quite simply don't really understand most of it.  No, I'm not going to go all political on you about the pros and cons of (paid) healthcare in the US.  Nor will I bang on about the pros and cons of (free) healthcare in the UK!  I will however tell you that our experiences with doctors and hospitals over here have been excellent and because the husband is retired Air Force, we are lucky enough to pay a minimal amount for our healthcare.  That's about as political as I'm going to get :)

Anyway, I went to the doctor after having had the glute pain for a couple of months.  Immediately I was given an x-ray, medicine and referred to physical therapy which I started a week after the doctor's appointment.  A week!  In the UK, I would have most likely been sent home and told to suck it up.  If you are referred for physical therapy back home, there is a waiting list of several weeks.  Over here though, they're on it!   

2 of our children have been born in US civilian hospitals and 1 was born in a civilian German hospital.  We had private rooms every time and were pretty much spoiled and very much taken care of when in the hospital, without having to pay a dime.  The husband got to stay in the room with me the whole time and even had his own pull-out bed.  I hear this is not the case back home though, where apparently husbands are kicked out of the hospital at 9pm leaving new Mothers on their own all night.  Character building I'm sure, but I'm so grateful I didn't have to experience that and had the husband right there with me.

On the flip side, most Americans seem to know a lot more about drugs/medication than Brits.  That's probably because they're prescribed way more often over here.  Back home, more often than not, we leave the doctor's office having been told to take paracetamol or just suck it up.  It always amazes me how many of my American friends know medication names and terminology and exactly what the medications are for.  I didn't know any of this kind of stuff before I moved to America.  To be honest,  I'm still pretty clueless about most of it. 

So anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that although we do have to pay for healthcare over here, we are very much taken care of and usually pretty quickly too.  We've had nothing but fantastic experiences when we've had to use American medical facilities and I feel very lucky.  I do know this isn't always the case though and that there are many differences of opinions about the state of healthcare in both of my countries.  I will end simply and without controversy though, because it's true that no matter what country you live in, nobody really enjoys visiting the doctor in the first place!