BERMUDA AND NEW ENGLAND IN SPRING - NJ

Wednesday 17 May 1995 Ringwood NJ

 Had another good walk around the Lake this morning. It was a lovely way to start the day with the weather overcast but warm. The water and shores were misty and everywhere the soft spring green of the woods lit up periodically by the startling white of a dogwood. The folks I bumped into this morning and last evening are all very friendly and we exchange greetings with a smile. Rab and I have often commented on how, when we are walking around the neighbourhood at home in Australia, no one ever greets us – most avert their eyes. Maybe it is a city/country thing: maybe it is a USA/Aus thing. (I raised this because we found US citizens so polite and friendly where many Australians are more standoffish. But we live in a big city in Australia and most of the American people we meet are in smaller towns. It was noticeable, when we went to live in a small community in South Africa how much more greet and smile there was.)

Both of us slept well last night and had a pretty relaxing day with a late start as Rab and Nora talked non-stop (and often simultaneously) covering, as far as I could ascertain, the present whereabouts and current condition of every acquaintance they have shared over the past forty years.

We then embarked on one of Nora’s great drives, hurtling along for hours in one direction and then going off again in another. We met up with Uli and his old secretary Kirsty  who we had not seen for years, for lunch at a place near Uli’s office -  Macaroni Grill. It was a very good meal – I had grilled sausage with peppers and onions which tasted comparable with one of my grills at home – and the atmosphere was pleasant too. At first sight it was a bit unprepossessing – a great barn of a place with gallon jars of wine. boxes of beer, jars of pickles etc with fairly loud music echoing around the hard surfaces. But as we ate and drank we realised that there was a good feel to the place.

We left the party and went on down to Parsippany to see Judy who I met at Stanford in June ’92 (This was a two week management course I went on) She and her husband run a medical consulting business and we stayed in touch after the course. This was mainly, I think, because she swears I am the spitting image of her cousin. It was raining pretty hard but we found the place quite easily and had an hour or so with her. We were surprised that she didn’t even offer us a cup of coffee, so we were pretty thirsty when we left her. (Seems that the camaraderie built up on a course like the one we attended lasts no longer than the end of a cruise. Rather like a cruise, everyone swears they will keep in touch and trade contact details – and are never heard of again). We stopped off at a Dairy Queen for a milkshake. I had a peanut butter flavoured one: pretty darned good I thought.

We also picked up some cold meat, cheese and crackers from the supermarket for supper since we had a big lunch and did not really fancy a re-run of Nora’s vegetarian shepherd’s pie, nice though that had been. She did have some cheese but it was all fat (and flavour) free. The evening was most pleasant as we chewed the fat about this and that and picked up old threads. 

Thursday 18 May 1995 Ringwood NJ

We took the car back this morning and then drifted somewhat aimlessly about a mall, buying the odd item in a desultory way. Uli came home early and, as we had decided to have a Mexican meal (in the absence of any Thai or similar food), we set off on what proved to be an hour long trek searching first of all for a restaurant which Nora was certain was off one of the main highways and then heading off in completely the opposite direction to one Uli knew of. As it turned out, Uli’s choice was part of a chain, one of which was close to his office – next to Macaroni Grill as a matter of fact – so he could have got his work done and we could have met him there. It wasn’t exactly Mexican, more TexMex perhaps but it was good and hot. The servings were, as they so often are in the US, enormous. We only chose starters but found them plenty big enough.

The drive home was pleasant as Uli took some of the smaller roads and we saw some magnificent homes and gardens. We finished up at Skyline Manor and wandered around the gardens: one section had over 300 species of lilacs and the scent was superb, even if some did remind us a bit of air freshener. Back to the house for another snack supper and to pack for an early start. The limo company has suggested a 05.45 pick up for our 09.10 flight out of Kennedy.