Turkey in Texas

They say that the average American consumes 5000 calories on Thanksgiving Day so we were not to be outdone. We had never been in the U.S. for this holiday before and it was entirely fortuitous that the dates fell into place on this trip. 

It's a strange event in some ways, like much over here just different enough from the UK to suddenly jar you into noticing we are 2 countries divided by a common language as Churchill put it. When we arrived I could see how easy it would be to adopt a posher British accent and steadfastly refuse to say elevator when they obviously mean lift. Any hows y'all make up your own minds now. People are usually charmed by a British accent and immediately want to know where you are from. On a run I asked a guy for directions and had to prise myself away. He had just gone to pick up his post from his front gate in his golf buggy - it must have been all of 50 metres to the gate. 

The weather was gloriously sunny and so we could have our lunch outside and over the next 10 days  it kickstarted our running again and we enjoyed walking the dogs in the "local" park. But let's be honest - there isn't a lot to do in Texas apart from visit family. There really is no such thing as a Public Footpath in the US. We went up to a State Forest for a great 2 hour walk but it was a 2 hour drive - otherwise everywhere is private property and you could get shot for trespass. We really should celebrate the network of public paths everywhere in the UK.

It was great to catch up with Lesley and Piers and Helen and Kate and when the weather suddenly dropped from borderline needing the air conditioning to nearly freezing it was time to move on.  We were off to New York on the last leg of our journey.