Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends

Subject: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 05:07 AM

Just thought I'd wish you all the best, a happy holiday, and enjoy the croquettes, and the cold turkey sandwiches over the coming week.

Giok ☺

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 07:18 AM

and a happy holiday to you too Giok from your little coquette xxxxx

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 07:32 AM

Gosh this went 'downstairs' pretty rapidly. I know it is technically BS but many people do not look at these downstairs threads, so I thought I'd put it upstairs so they would get the good wishes too, fully expecting it to descend to the 'basement' in due course.
Giok

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Micca
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 08:50 AM

I would like to join with Giok in wishing all those that made us Brits, at the Getaway, and during the rest of our visit(s) to the USA so enjoyable with the hospitality and friendship shown and the general welcomingness of the whole event, especially to FSGW and its members and to its " earthly representatives" Charlie Baum, Rita Ferrara and Carly and all the others, Many thanks, Micca

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 09:15 AM

And a Happy... no, make that Joyous Thanksgiving to all our Brit friends..

Jeyrry

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 09:25 AM

How's that whole escaping to the new world to have a goverment free from excess religion, and a head of state chosen by free and fair means going? Any second thoughts yet?

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Amos
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 09:26 AM

Hear, hear. Some of the best folks we know are Brit friends.

A

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Biskit
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 11:30 AM

Happy Thanksgiving!
Peace! Through Understanding
~Biskit~

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Peace
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 11:35 AM

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. And may you continue to have things for which you're thankful.

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 11:42 AM

I haven't played croquettes since I was a kid...

Jerry

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Amos
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 11:50 AM

From the New York Times editorial section today:

"We often find it hard to be as thankful as we should be these days. For so many Americans, it is no longer a question of having too little or having enough. It's the difference between having too much and having way, way too much.

It is too easy to forget, amid this abundance, that all across America a different kind of Great Depression is still going on. The old stories would have been told very differently - if they were told at all - if they had been tales of growing up poor in the midst of wealth. There was no shame in the collective poverty of the Great Depression. There is no shame in the poverty Americans suffer today. The shame adheres to those who do nothing to change it.

Perhaps it isn't necessary to have gone hungry in order to be thankful for eating well. In a land of economic entitlement, gratitude may be almost too old-fashioned to sustain for more than this one day. But then there is something to be said for an old-fashioned holiday like this one. For a moment, we grasp how rich we are, how close we feel to the ones around us, and we give thanks before it all seems merely normal again."

---

I've been hungry, although never for very long, and I've slept in cold open spaces, but I have always had an exit, and these sufferings were largely elective.

I have spent time with people who had nothing to speak of, and whose food supply was a day-to-day invention. But not a lot of time.

I have always been glad and thankful to my stars that I was not trapped in those conditions. More important, having seen many people over the years who fought their way out of severe poverty and established for themselves some viable economic footing, I have frequently been thankful that I was in a country where that was possible. But the biggest thing I have been grateful to existence for, looking back over these small exposures to hard times, was for the incredible resilience and persistence of the human spirit. I am actually thankful that I can play among such a colorful and delightful species and call them my own.

I've given what I thought I could, and spent time sitting with madmen in desperate straits to at least get them through to another morning. I wish, looking back, that I had done more to help. Maybe I need to think more about that in the next year. Maybe I can outgrow some of my favorite, well-used rationalizations and see about making something better happen.

A

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Ron Davies
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 11:52 AM

We all sure hope to see our UK friends at the Getaway next year--and who knows, maybe sooner. You enrich the Getaway beyond belief--it's almost like having a piece of Sidmouth.

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 12:02 PM

Thanks, friends. Wish you were here for dinner, dishwashing, and tomorrow's leftovers/freezer packup!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 05:34 PM

Amos, lovely post and well put. "There's always next year"- except sometimes there is not. I'm going to post your thoughts on my board.

I agree - our British friends and those even more far flung are a wondrous addition to any fun in the US. Hurray for the Getaway! I will never forget.

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 05:46 PM

Hope you had a good day, all the best to those across the pond.

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 08:44 PM

Giok, you're part of my thankful list this year and for all my years to come.
Some of what I got out of our Am. Revol. story is that, partly, it was a bunch of English people trying to enjoy, on this side of the waves, what their cousins on the other side had. So maybe this is all y'alls fault???...             Tw

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 08:51 PM

Leave it to Amos to find something negative to discuss. Negativity flows through his veins like hydraulic fluid through a backhoe. It is his source of power like the dark side.

Peace be with you Amos if that is possible.

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Peace
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 10:00 PM

I didn't find Amos' post at all negative. Me thinks GUEST doth protest too much.

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 10:09 PM

GUESTs usually do.

Thanks, and back atchas.

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 10:48 PM

I thought Amos's comments were eloquent, movinbg, thoughtful and positive.

Perhaps Guest is seeing through a glass darkly?

Jerry

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Amos
Date: 24 Nov 05 - 10:48 PM

Dear Guest:

I'm sorry; I certainly meant nothing negative. I was simply suggesting that in the midst of plenty, which we have earned by largely honest toil, it is a good idea to remember those we have encountered over the years who needed more help than we had to give at the time. I think this is a positive thing. To celebrate affluence is well-deserved to those who have earned their way. That does not mean it should be an occasion for ignoring people in harder straits.

A

Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Peace
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 12:03 AM

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Subject: RE: Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends
From: Peace
Date: 25 Nov 05 - 12:04 AM

The above from here.