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Henry Dallimore found true love in Pottsville, Pennsylvania and emigrated there last year.

These are his messages back to Shorelink Community Writers.

Henry's First Message

I am quite elderly really I suppose (72 to be exact) and have recently emigrated to Pennsylvania and got married in June this year. I shall be sending "Letters from America" from time to time (in memory of Alistair Cooke), but we have been having a nice summer and fall and I have not got into the rhythm of sitting at the computer and writing. I joined Shorelink in the summer of '03 and write both prose and poetry, I started on my first novel in January 2000 but all I have written is the prologue and first paragraph of chapter one! So I doubt if it will ever get completed. My interests are railways together with most forms of transportation, digital photography and video making (no not that sort Missus!!). Since coming to America I have become a volunteer at our local library giving lessons in computer basics, digital photography and video.

Henry's "LETTER FROM AMERICA"

#30

May 28th
Well Memorial Weekend has come round again, I shan’t write anything as it looks like being the same as last year. Four yellow school ‘buses arrived this afternoon with the kids to change the flags on the veterans’ graves. I hope they will learn to run things better than we have when it’s their turn.

A question - why do American towns use numbers for the streets and not names? I only found out the answer via an excellent series on the History Channel covering the US from the very early days to the present. The answer? - well evidently during the nineteenth century the towns were being built so fast that there wasn’t any time for anybody to think up names for all those new streets. So they used numbers with the result that it is extremely difficult to become lost in an American town, well at least in Pottsville! The named streets are often very long, ours, West Market Street, is over three miles long. It begins with a turning off Centre Street (yes it’s really spelt our way!) which is the main north - south route through the City centre and runs to just about half a mile past the City Limits. I think the last street off it is numbered somewhere around twenty five. Of course there are two different names depending on from which side of the street they originate (eg north tenth street and south tenth street). Some of these inner city sounding names extend up the mountain to the most salubrious parts of Pottsville.

May 29th
Rolling Thunder - I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before. This is a gathering of thousands of motor cyclists in Washington DC on the Memorial Weekend. They ride from all parts of the country to remember the Fallen, MIA, POW’s and Veterans in distress. It was started by three Vietnam Veterans so that the plight of all serviceman is not overlooked by the White House. Unfortunately the President will not be there this year, he had decided to return to his hometown of Chicago for the weekend instead of attending the memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery. I make no comment on this decision here. The numbers of riders in DC this weekend would make the Hastings gathering look like a beach picnic! One of our friends from Texas left last Tuesday on his Harley Davidson, that is a long ride which he does every year but he meets up with many friends along the way.

We shall be off to the customary family picnic tomorrow, the forecast is sunny with temperatures in the low nineties. Monday the usual parade in the square. I shall be taking the camera so if there is anything very different from previous years, I’ll post the pix next time.

Until next time.

BFN
H

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