....We did, indeed, go to the Hard Rock Casino yesterday, and deposited some of our money, but next time we go at the end of this month we will demand that the Seminoles give some of it back to us. We'll promise to return it. Anyway, one good thing was that we went to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Rho had a hamburger and I had fajitas. We had a couple of coupons--buy one, get one, free; and two five dollar vouchers. The cost of these two items without the coupons and vouchers would be about $27, but our bill came to $7.53. See? We outwitted the Indians. I had a good time scooting from slot to slot in my scooter. That way I lost my money faster than if I had to walk. Rho and I split up and arranged to meet at 1pm. When I saw her, she said she lost about $60, so being so generous as I am, I gave her $60. When we got home that evening, we were too stuffed from lunch, so we ordered in a pizza. While dining, I watched Detroit and Minnesota's playoff game which was the strangest game I ever saw. It played out almost like a scripted sitcom with the ending never in doubt until after the final commercial.
.....I believe I mentioned in a previous posting on this blog that I had an English penpal/cousin. We're not real cousins because Ruth Grimsley is related to my ex's family, but we sort of adopted each other anyway. I'm an anglophile. Anyway, we've been discussing the difficulty we are having in this country getting a health plan passed. Ruth, in an e-mail, gave us some helpful English tips which I reproduce here:
".....Dear Cuz: What indeed is going on in your country, particularly with regard to universal health care? Are you a democracy or aren't you? If I were Pres. Obama, I'd either call a referendum or plebiscite on the issue (if that is possible under your Constitution), or resign and go to the polls again. There must be some way he can say to the electorate: "Did you or did you not vote me in to do something about this?" And if the answer is, "YES, WE DID," then how come a very frightened and not terribly efficient bunch of insurers etc. can stop him? It all seems rather strange to us Englanders. "
.....Not that our own NHS is all that safe at the moment. The International Monetary Fund have just told us we must reduce our health and welfare budgets to balance our books. TOLD us? Will Englishmen and women stand for being TOLD? And you'd think that the IMF nostrums would be totally discredited by now, wouldn't you? If anything is guaranteed to start the English thinking seriously about real socialism again, it's cuts in our health service. Perhaps not yet, but once cuts start to hurt, the English won't stand for being treated as a Third World country. (Not so sure about welfare - lots of people think that our huge welfare system, while not being wrong in principle, hasn't done the good it was supposed to have done, and in some cases has indeed undermined people's ability to look after themselves and their own.) Much love, Ruth"
.....So, you see, that's the way the English do it. It's all very confusing, as the English generally are. Ruth goes on to give us some insight as to her reading choices--witness:
."....Subsequent to my reading of "1599" by James Shapiro, I'm now reading his "Shakespeare and the Jews." "1599" was excellent, and the latter book seems to be brilliant too, although I've not yet got very far into it. But already I'm learning a lot about my identity as an English Jewess. (I know that "Jewess" is thought to be a rather politically incorrect word, both by feminists and some Jewish people, but I rather like it - I think it makes me sound like a Duchess!)"
.....I think I'll go to the library and check out those books.
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