Month: April 2016

Anna: You know, Ginger Snap, it was all such a big surprise…

Ginger Snap: I agree!  One day we were living in our hutch in the garden in London –

A: – it was cold, there, though –

GS: – and we were free to run around the garden most days –

A: – where I spent all my time munching on the herbs that the tall human with glasses planted –

GS: – and then, without so much as a by-your-leave, we were shoved into a wooden box and taken away!

A: The place we stayed that night: I didn’t like it.  I could hear dogs and cats.

GS: Quite!  Bunnies should be with other bunnies, not with cats and dogs.

A: Still, it was better than the wooden box.  But the next morning we were put back in the box.  I really didn’t like that.  I thumped quite a lot.

GS: Me too – but I was rather interested what would happen next.  It could be quite a fun adventure!

A: I’d rather be eating that lovely lavender plant 😦

GS: Anyway it wasn’t as much fun as I hoped.  We went somewhere very loud, and then our box was put inside somewhere dark.  It started moving, and there was lots of noise.

A: It felt like we were going upwards!  And it made my ears hurt.

GS: So all we could do was snuggle together and hope it wouldn’t go on for too long.  In the end it finished, but we were still in the wretched box.

A: And after that, we saw our people again.  We thought we’d be able to get back into our garden now and munch on some grass –

GS: – but we stayed in the box, this time in a car.  They got us some nice fresh apples and kale to eat, but all that noise had really put me off my food.

A: Me too.  I had really lost my appetite. Finally, the car stopped, and our people let us out of the box for a bit.  But we weren’t in the garden.  We were somewhere completely new.

GS: So, frankly, we both had a bit of a sulk.

A: The next day, our people got us somewhere new to live.  It took us some time to get used to it, but now it’s OK.

GS: I like it when they let us out to run round the house.  I go everywhere!

A: Yes, I remember they weren’t very impressed when they discovered the number of poops you had left in the guest bedroom downstairs – or when you peed under the sofa…

GS: Whoops!

A: And now they always close that door to stop you causing trouble.  Sometimes we still get to go outside, though.

GS: I went to a street party!  The tall person with long hair put me on the leash and off we trotted to a party round the corner.  The little humans there thought I was very sweet.  But it was very hot and I got very tired so I had to lie down for a bit.  All that socialising is very demanding for a small bunny.

A: I didn’t like the leash at first.  But now I do like to go for a bit of a walk and run with my leash on.  I’m a bit worried though, that our people are going to get a reputation.

GS: What do you mean?

A: Well, other humans might start to say “Look, there are those crazy English humans taking their bunnies out for a walk again”.  I mean, there aren’t many house bunnies round here.

GS: Mostly dogs.  I don’t like dogs.

A: Exactly!

GS: Our little human – lots of her friends haven’t seen bunnies before.  They always want to hug us.  After a while I just want to escape.

A: You’re right – a bunny can have too much affection.  Especially if all the kisses make my fur a bit soggy.

GS: Anyway, today was the best adventure of all.  I heard the two humans with long hair calling it a “golf cart”.  I enjoyed sitting on that seat and watching the world go by.

A: I did too, I think.  But it was rather fast, and there wasn’t any food there.

GS: So what do you think, Mummy rabbit – do you like it here?  Or would you rather be back in your garden in London?

A: I’m not sure.  There were some lovely plants to eat in London.  But here we see our humans a lot more.  So probably – here!

GS: I agree, I like it here!  But where is “here”?  Does anybody have an atlas for bunnies…?

Charleston is well-known as the foodie hub of the Southern USA.  In fact, it boasts 3 restaurants out of the top 40 in the US, according to this list from Business Insider, and there are new ones popping up every week – not bad for a city of just 130,000 people.

But of course I’m not going to write about any of the restaurants that make this list.  Nor am I going to write about any of the new, and achingly trendy, restaurants that keep appearing downtown.

No.  The subject of tonight’s review, ladies and gentlemen, is the Bombay Bazar.

Luckily I’ve been to enough different restaurants in different places to know that the outside is not always a reflection of the quality of the food within.  (This holds particularly true in Tokyo, or Hong Kong.)  And let’s be honest, Indian food is pretty much a rarity in the US.

I’ve been to the Bombay Bazar twice now, both times with Jools, another displaced Englishman.  And despite the exterior, the food isn’t bad at all.

We started with an unusual beer.  Firstly, it was called Godfather.  Closer examination of the bottle revealed that it was indeed brewed in India – in Rajasthan – but this did not explain the picture of the gentleman on the bottle, who looks like some sort of bastard cross between Lenin and Brian Blessed.

As for the meal, I had a lamb sag.  It wasn’t much to look at (I can’t possibly put here what Jools said it looked like) but it tasted pretty good.  The sauce was creamy, and the meat tender.  Jools had a chicken madras – a slightly unusual colour, but tasting just the right mix of fiery and flavoursome.

As far as I know, the Bombay Bazar is one of only two Indian restaurants in Charleston, so I am sure I’ll be back.  Though Charlie keeps inviting people over and saying “Chris will cook curry for you” so maybe I will end up opening Charleston’s third Indian restaurant myself…

 

Last week, Charlotte found herself up before the judge.

How and why, you might ask, did a fully paid-up member of the Goody Two Shoes Club end up in such a situation?

You may remember from a previous blog that a couple of weeks ago, she got pulled over for speeding.  In the UK, you pay a fine, get a couple of points on your license, curse a bit, and that is it.  In the US, a speeding ticket is a criminal charge.  Of course you can pay the fine, accept the points, and curse a bit (and watch your insurance premium skyrocket).  Or, you can go before a traffic court to see if you can get the fine reduced.  Charlie is not the sort of girl to settle, so off she went to court, 8.30am on a Tuesday morning.

(Full disclosure here, I would have just paid the fine, and that’s what I suggested she did.)

Traffic court is an amazing thing: a microcosm of the US judicial system, with people there reflecting all parts of society.  And it’s deadly serious.  Whatever you do, don’t think that it’s just a speeding ticket and you don’t need to take it seriously.  There are even websites devoted to what to say to the judge at traffic court, strategies to get off, right down to what you should wear to appear respectful.

Start with the judge.  “All rise”, and everyone stands – then he (or she, he in this case) comes in, wearing a gown.  Our judge was called Jack Sinclaire and he was excellent.  He explained what would happen during the hearing and what everyone’s options were, and ended by expressing the hope that we would all be out of there within a couple of hours – presumably so he could go back to his far more lucrative private practice.

In the US criminal justice system (now I sound like the beginning of an episode of Law & Order) you face your accuser.  In this case, it’s the officer who gave you the ticket – so he was also there, along with a motley collection of people he had given tickets to over the past month or so, one of whom was Charlie.

And what a collection it was.  One lady stood up, said she was sorry, and the judge said “OK, thank you for turning up today, I can take $50 off your fine”.  Another man – more like a boy – had already paid his ticket, so why he was there in court is anyone’s guess.  One of the more amusing defendants – to me, anyway – was an extremely lanky kid who stood there with his mother, having got his second speeding ticket within about six months.  “You’ve got a lead foot, boy” was the judge’s piercing critique.  And with two tickets in such a short period, there was little chance of any leniency for him.  There were various stereotypes, of course, like the kid caught both speeding and driving unsafely – oh yes, and he had pot in the car too.

Within the parade, there were some actual, real, stories worthy of sympathy – and it seemed as if Judge Sinclaire knew when to show mercy.  There was the elementary school teacher who had been caught speeding on her way to pick up her ill child from day care.  And the other that tugged on the heartstrings was the man who had been told at the doctor he had early onset dementia, and had been caught speeding on his way to an AA meeting, as he was afraid he was going to have a drink.

And then it was Charlie’s turn.  She apologised profusely, told the judge we’d just moved from the UK and she had only passed her US test a week ago, that she’d never had a speeding ticket before, and that she was driving my car which goes faster than hers – and guess what?  It worked.  The ticket was deferred for six months – so if she doesn’t have any other offences within this period, the points and the fine go away.  Result!

As for me, I had a fascinating insight into the US legal system.  Interesting as it was, frankly I hope I don’t experience it very often, and certainly not for anything more serious than traffic court!

1.  We didn’t go away anywhere.  Last Easter, we were on holiday in Charleston.  Easter 2014, we were also on holiday in Charleston.  Easter 2013 – I know what you are thinking, but you aren’t right – we were in California.  A pattern of Eastertime visits to the US.  Now that we are here, we decided not to go anywhere and just spend our time enjoying our new neighbourhood.
2. Alice learnt to cycle.  I had been trying to teach her to ride a bike for years, but without any success.  Then her “boyfriend” visited from North Carolina – his grandparents live over the road – and within a couple of hours she was cycling around like a maniac.
   She then spent the rest of her week off wanting to cycle at every opportunity, rain or shine. Mostly shine.  I was pleased, but secretly seething that my years of work were trumped by a six year-old boy.

   

3. I went to work.  I’m discovering that there don’t seem to be as many bank holidays and vacation days in the US as there were in the UK (bummer), though I did get Good Friday off.  It doesn’t feel like you need a holiday so much if you still get home with several hours of sun and warmth left to enjoy.  My only problem (and to be honest it’s not a major problem) is getting out of the mindset of having a beer every night, just because the sun is shining.
4. We almost went to church.  We made up our minds to go to Mass on Easter Sunday, and we got as far as the church.  But it wasn’t just standing room only in the church – it was so full inside that there were people standing outside too.
5. We went to an Easter Egg Hunt.  The rain started just as we got there and within minutes we were being doused by a full-on tropical thunderstorm, so much so that we needed a change of clothing.
6. I finally hauled my no-good ass out of bed to go swimming before work.  And boy, was it worth it.  It was dark when I started, but the pool was deserted and the sun rose as I swam.
7. Alice went feral.  She spent hours every day with her friends, running round the neighbourhood, swimming, cycling (see above), climbing trees over the marsh, falling down, getting up, and generally having a crazy fun time.