Whaaattt?

I probably should put this in the what makes you happy thread but it seems that most of us have had very happy experiences in meeting only "nice, friendly" Americans and not the ones who voted for Lumpy. Yes, I now think of him as being exactly like a big, bellowing bully character from the old Leave it to Beaver show. Not smart and constantly being bailed out by Daddy's old money.

Oh maybe I have sorta met one. Perhaps my library has a copy of the famous 1958 political novel by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer. I've never read it before but now might be a good time to read that one!

 

@redstar Yes, as you rightly say, it's certainly those of us who actually do the shopping, fill the car tank and pay the bills who have the best idea of the true cost of living. The "high ups" rarely have a clue - often can't even accurately price the cost of a pint of milk
Good that you are finding life is improving for you.

 

There are as many "nice" Americans as there are "nice" Canadians, English, French, Indians , Africans, and every other nationality. We meet them every day whether virtualy or in the real world. There are of course also some very unpleasant ones - that's people for you and we are unlikely to change.

 

Here is something funny, and just regarding Gas in the car. So when we get ready to go down to North Carolina, from our home in PA. Gas up here about 3 weeks ago was $2.79 a gallon. We don't fill the tank up here, we usually have a half a tank when we leave. We know it will be cheaper in North Carolina, and it was $2.39 a gallon. Now if you listen to the news they will tell you gas in California is something like $4.00 a gallon. Yesterday I was out shopping and gas was $2.15 a gallon in my town. Why the difference you may ask. It could be or California that their laws/rules/regulations placed on Gas Stations there cost a lot more so then they have to pass those costs to the consumer. I did see in California a sign at a gas station for Car smog check up to be done. . (horrid). When we were there this past August.

As Trump in general says he is deleting some regulations, regulations in any area always cost the consumer more money. It takes the cost of staff to observe the regulations and carry them out, or certain objects to be put in place to meet the regulations. I used to work in the field where I had to follow Federal and State regulations, put things in place, train staff how to follow the regulations, find staff to check behind other staff to make sure regulations were followed, its all cost factors. And all of that takes time to resolve itself.

 

Interesting @redstar ........... there are price differences in petrol and diesel here too but more the case of retailers competing with each other. As far as I know, there is no "standard" price for vehicle fuel in the UK but smaller business enterprises which only sell petrol will have to charge more whilst the large supermarkets can afford to offer lower prices per litre.
In your own case as you say, the different states have their own laws/regulations. You only mention California in the West as against PA and N Carolina in the East as that is the area you travel. I could well be wrong but does not California have stricter Green/Environmental regs which presumably accounts for the higher fuel costs ?
Getting rid of some regulations can be good but some regulations are necessary for both the populace and the environment as a whole.
Are electric cars popular in the US ? Plenty of disadvantages as well as advantages.

 

"What plant are you on" seems like a very appropriate question for a gardening forum

 

In that particular location where we were I would think the Green/Environmental regs would certainly affect gas prices. It was sad driving in that area the traffic was nuts and both of us remarked about the hovering smog about. And that was LA area. But my cousins live way up Northern part of California where it's no smog, and no crazy traffic, regulations in that area are different. I imagine the mid-west states totally different with regulations etc and prices.

I would say that California brought on their own need for the Green /Environment regs, that area in LA is nuts, very little trees, so much cement. 10 lanes traffic highways, loaded with cars. I would never live there.

Regarding Eggs, when Biden was there eggs were 4 and 5 dollars a dozen. Now they are 1.89 a dozen. So with that said we can see also lower chicken feed had to happen, lower transport had to happen etc. Lower harvesting of the chicken feed.

 

I thought bird flu was the main reason for eggs getting more expensive. We've suffered it here too.

 

That means a much lower percentage of Americans are nice than Canadians. The USA has a population nearly 10 times greater than Canada but only as many nice people as Canada.

 

Whenever there's a big disaster affecting a small community, and people pitch in to help each other out, they always say "well that's what people are like around here". As if in any other town (particularly Down South) they would just stand by going Har-Har like Nelson in "The Simpsons".

In fact the majority of people are good, and friendly (though often too shy to show it) and willing to help their neighbours.

Of course it might be a bit different in That London.

 

There are lots of people in my road I've hardly or never spoken to, unlike some years ago when everyone knew everyone else, even if they didn't always get on well.

Now everyone is too busy, or they are only going to be around until they can get a better house.
But covid was different and it brought people together, suddenly someone from down the road was asking if you were ok and needed anything.

 

No they are not. In fact recently I heard some car companies were closing down those areas that built them. It should be an option for folks, and not treated as mandatory which is the noise Biden was making. Did see a driverless car in LA.

 

In my experience London, and the people working there, are the least friendly I've ever had the misfortune to have to work with.
I was involved in IT development, installation and support for a company I worked for and had to visit the offices in London and Glasgow quite regularly as IT systems developed from stand alone PCs to networks.
When I went to the Glasgow office for the first time I was taken out for lunch. On subsequent visits I was always asked if I wanted to go to lunch with them, although I would generally just work through so I could get back to the airport.
When I went to the London office for the first tine, to do some installation work, I realised it was lunchtime, looked up from what I was doing, and discovered the office empty apart from one secretary. Nobody had said anything to me, even to ask if I knew where I could get something for lunch. That was pretty much standard.

 

I read through a goodly portion of the transcript of the debate on ID cards. All very civilised, lots of interesting points made ... until at the end a minister for the gov had his say. He accused his colleagues of spreading lies and said we are introducing digital IDs regardless.

Now, this was the 4th biggest petition ever and yet the debate was not held in the Commons and there is no plan to allow MPs to vote on the matter. Add in that there was no mention of introducing these in the manifesto, so the gov has no mandate to proceed, and this becomes a blatant act of authoritarianism. If we, the voters, cannot stop something like this being imposed without meaningful consultation (ie the opportunity for us to reject the idea which must then be complied with), we do not live in a democracy. Labour is wilfully damaging the very fabric of gov by consent.