Stage one of the Winnipeg to London flight. Sit next to an American. As J puts it, a stereotypical American, a believer in the American dream. Though one who doesn’t really think, he says frequently, that it’s going to deliver for him. We learn that he’s from Virginia, raises beef cattle but can’t afford enough land to do it on a larger scale and supplements his income by delivering new semis to destinations all over Canada and the US. Also that he is a Trump supporter and did three years in Eye-raq. And that he grows hemp, for which he apparently has a licence as well as making moonshine for which he presumably doesn’t. Much accompanied by mobile phone photos.
And he has questions as well. Do we have bears, do we pay an enormous amount of income tax, do Canadians care who wins power in the US, have we been to Dubai? We give some answers. The tax is not massively different but where the tax money goes is. Less in Canada to the military and more to health. Yes, most Canadians do care who the president is. No, we haven’t been to Dubai.
There are things we don’t say. Despite our friend’s claim to having excellent insurance himself, we can’t understand being sanguine about medical bills being the number one cause of American bankruptcies. The overwhelming majority of Canadians are contemptuous of Trump. We haven’t been to Dubai in large part because I refuse to support a regime that is guilty of such appalling treatment of vulnerable foreign workers.
The Iraq experience leads to observations on other cultures. He’s seen Iraqi palaces - beautiful but not really well constructed. Hard not to reflect that many of the sites had survived a very long time before they were attacked.
Actually, I had intended to read my library book, which will vanish from the tablet in nine days. (No more problem with overdue books). Perhaps it’s just as well that it’s an e-book and therefore the title is not visible: Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig’s A Very Stable Genius, an account of Trump’s shambolic first three years in the White House.
There is a terrible kind of innocence about our talkative new friend, both disturbing and, in a way, moving. The American dream but....Have sprayed all relevant surfaces with alcohol but can’t help thinking that it’s just as well that the American is unlikely to be spreading COVID-19. Three hour conversation at two foot range not ideal defensive measure.
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