Very little time to do the blog this week so you’ll be pleased to know it is short!

I have been struck by how those that sell us ‘stuff’ over here can package and market so effectively – the stores are just full of those-things-we never-thought-we-needed-and-now-want.

The latest of these was a little package I picked up and showed to Maurice when we were shopping in our local Randall’s – very like Waitrose and actually Safeway.

The little package contained 4 gorgeously tiny little plastic containers with different coloured lids. So handy. So cute. But the look on Maurice’s face said it all – what on earth do you need those for?

He didn’t get it did he? It’s not about what you need over here – it’s about what you want.

I wanted those cute little plastic containers that would really not be used – too tiny for leftovers, and too unnecessary for knick knacks – which otherwise come in the containers they were actually sold in.

Maurice would rather wash out an old coffee tin for his guitar gadgets – ‘this will be handy’ he says.

Said tin is accumulating rust and still in the kitchen, nowhere near guitars.

Anyone who has ever flown courtesy of a US airline will be familiar with Sky Mall. The glossy brochure you get in your seat pocket is packed full of highly unnecessary but nevertheless desirable gizmos, gadgets and bonkers accessories – many for your pets. Obviously there is cat clothing, but also folding stairs for your dog to use to get up on the sofa or your bed. And also any number of variations on the garden gnome theme as well as glow-in-the-dark toilet seats.

This is clearly a society with too much wealth to spend on absolute rubbish. But you get addicted to wanting this garbage. It pulls you in until before you know it, you really, really NEED this stuff.

The masters of spin are the ad men. I have spoken before about the advertisements on TV here – interrupting your viewing enjoyment at every turn. Sometimes you do actually enjoy the ad – well, only if Matthew McConaughey is in it. And now I want a Lincoln.

Oh, before I forget, did I mention I passed my Texas Driving test?

This road ‘test’ is all of 10 minutes long. I wondered if I was actually going to do a left turn – and I think I only did 2. It is therefore much more understandable why the general standard of driving over here is so dire. You can drive on a probationer licence without any ‘L’ plates denoting your apprentice status. You can phone, text, drink, eat your dinner (many do) and generally move around lanes in whatever haphazard way takes your fancy. You honk your horn at will when someone takes more than a nano second at a junction. You don’t ever ever bother to let someone in to the line of traffic in front of you if you can help it. And don’t look at anyone lest they take a road rage hairy canary and reach for their gun.

Anyway, back to consumerism.

We need to ‘buy’ medical services and have done a search for doctors and Maurice recently also visited the dentist.

The dentist appointment here is a very different affair from at home. The dentist himself appears to be ‘working on’ a number of patients at once in conveyor belt fashion, so you may get left for long periods in your chair, in a slightly downward tilted position with implements and instruments hanging out of your mouth while you endeavour to keep your mouth open.

Maurice’s experience was not pleasant and has not ended. Oh and it’s not cheap. $2900 apparently for his root canal treatment – all paid by the insurance company.

Mad Men started its final run here last night. It gives a great insight into the rise and rise of the consumer society and is wonderfully evocative of the early 70s, when I was last living in the US…

Ok that’s all folks. The ducklings are in Hermann Park and I have to go and visit them.

Won’t have much time for TV and musings in the next 3 weeks – visits from family and then a trip to Europe and home beckon so I’ll ‘see’ you in May when I imagine the weather will be ramping up a few degrees.