It's the Most Wonderful Time of the YearThere's Apparently a Recession, But I'm Not Participating in It

Nature's alarm clock ... I left the blinds open most mornings, so I was up at 6 regardless of whether or not I was over my jet lag.
Some mornings it was a bit dramatic.

I dragged the Partnerin around the States the past few weeks ... we had a few cold fronts blow through our section of beach, so the beaches were fairly empty. It must have been only 10 to 15 degrees (C) most mornings and only 5 to 10 degrees on most evenings. The Partnerin felt almost at home, what with the sea and a rather wicked wind blowing cold: Just like the north sea, but with palm trees.

I flew the Partnerin further south for lunch in a warmer clime ... on the way we passed over our section of the beach.


And we passed over one of the Air Force bases where I was assigned ... this one was my favorite, with beach, golfing and flying all in one package. I do occasionally miss that life, but I do not necessarily miss the hours or the pay.








I heard the US had finally been deemed to be in a recession as of December last year, which made me look like something of a Guru to my boss since I had stated six month ago that that the end of last year probably the start of the current recession that we all have been feeling for nearly a year or so. I just listened to my brothers, who are in the construction biz, and heard nearly a year and a half ago that things were slowing down. Do you ever wonder why it takes the experts so long to get it?

I also noticed quite a few long lines at the Orlando airport, so it seems a lot of Americans didn't get the message that times are tough and they are poor. Or maybe they hit the good old HELOC one more time before the bank closed it and put on a brave face for the children they were dragging to Disney World. Hmmm.

As for me, I checked the balances on my US credit cards and found that my limits had been raised ... wait a minute, I thought there was a credit crunch and nobody was getting credit. Then I walked into my US bank to take out some cash, and they practically begged me to apply for a mortgage. It seems I'm also not participating in the recession ... yet.

But when I do, but I'll just mortgage the condo and max out the cards and live large for a few years before I start looking for my own bailout.

It seems to be the American way.