Thanksgiving in the USA (7)

Following the family version of Thanksgiving on Sunday, the real Thanksgiving Day was today (Thursday). Around the nation, almost 49 million Americans travelled by road, rail and air to join their families. Mike and Laura were keen that I should have the full, immersive Thanksgiving experience so, like 50 million viewers all around the country, we watched on television the 90th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in the Manhattan district of New York City. Starting at 9 am, the event runs for some three hours with floats, parades, musicians, dancers and HUGE floating balloons of every kind of animal and character plus a host of performers from Broadway shows recreating key musical sequences.

In the afternoon, Mike and Laura drove me to downtown Washington DC for my second Thanksgiving meal. The venue was the swanky Omni Shoreham Hotel where the Beatles took a whole wing in 1964 and scenes were shot for the films “The Pelican Brief”, “The President’s Analyst” and “No Way Out”.

We were joined by our dear friends Morty and Florence Bahr. Morty was President of the Communications Workers of America – the sister union to the Communication Workers Union (with which I worked for 24 years) – from 1985-2005 I first met him in 1990 so our friendship now goes back 26 years. He and Florence are a fantastic couple who have been married for an amazing 71 years and, now in their 90s, they have two children, four grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. Morty regaled me with story after story from his brilliant career with a cast of characters including President Bill Clinton.

The meal was a buffet with a wonderful breadth of options for each course. I had clam chowder soup, a full salad, turkey with ALL the trimmings, and a collection of mini desserts plus champagne and coffee. We took our time and had three hours of food and conversation. Mind you, this sort of experience does not come cheap: $79 plus tax per head.

Back in Brinklow, this evening’s movie was a quirky offering from the Coen brothers: “Hail, Caesar!”


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