America

Saturday 29th May

Arrived here in Michigan on Tuesday and being fed and watered by the Sullivan family (Mary's Uncle Tommy) ever since!  We are staying in Farmington which is 20 to 30k's NW of Detroit and his four children live with their families within about 1/2 hour of him so we have seen plenty of the area around us though not Detroit itself.

It is memorial weekend here, so a holiday on Monday for the many parades remembering American forces in all the conflicts to date.

Pictures here

Before here we spent the weekend in New Orleans (which I thought I'd put a post up about but can't find now) which was a wonderful city.  We were staying right in the heart of the city in the French Quarter which was the only area not flooded by Katrina five years ago - the French had the sense to start the city on the only bit of high ground around!  Many signs of Katrina are still there, though the lower the income in the neighbourhood, the more signs there are.  Although grant funds were allocated to rebuild houses, these were dependant upon proof of ownership, and alot of people just didn't have the necessary papers - certainly in District 9 about 20% of houses still appear to be deserted and awaiting work.