I have been for two breakfasts, one lunch and dinner with various friends I haven’t seen for years. I have also bought a dress on the persuasion of one of these old friends.

Sherry and I had dinner downtown with friends of hers after the history tour, went to a pub quiz with different friends (we came third) after I had been to Meadowbrook and, on Tuesday, went to aqua aerobics (Sherry teaches the class) followed by dinner out with more friends.

Some ideas about the Metro Detroit area.

When I lived here in the 90s, downtown Detroit was largely in ruins and almost empty. All I was told was ‘Don’t go south of 8 Mile’ and ‘Always keep your car locked’. 8 Mile is the boundary road between the city and the suburbs. Nowadays there has been a lot of restoration, new buildings and people living there. There are grand houses from the glory days (watch the film Grosse Pointe Blank for an idea) and the theatres and skyscrapers as above. The suburbs tend to long straight roads, isolated houses with acres of grass around and more room for cars than people. There are some small houses built in the 40s and 50s for returning soldiers, almost all of which have been expanded in some way. Other areas have bigger houses and it is obvious when a small house has been knocked down and a much larger one built. What seems weird to a Brit is the almost total lack of fences around people’s property. How you stop dogs and toddlers from escaping into the road is beyond me.

It is noticeable that Michigan has NOT embraced the climate crisis. They still give away plastic bags in supermarkets, no one appears to have solar panels or electric cars and, on my long drive up north (see next post) I didn’t see one windmill.