I think I should now let you have a description of the Pensa cola town as I see it. When I first landed here on 10th April 2009, what greeted me aswe exited the airport in our daughter's car was the wide roads, disciplined traffic, and sparse traffic to boot. The drive from airport to Gulf breeze where the flat is located took around half hour. What surprised me most was that there were hardly any shops as we know in India. While on the way we could see some eating joints, etc., but no grocery stores or small mom and pop establishments. We had no problem like adjusting to the day-night timings here, since we did not feel any jet lag. The reason probably was because we hardly slept on the way from India, and we were ready to hit the deck by around 8 pm local time.
However, seeing Viju and Sagar, and talking about things and people back home, esp. our dear Riya's antics, we went to bed little late. From next day our routine started.
With in couple of days I started my daily walks, along madam, and slowly increased the distance covered. Unlike India, there were very few walkers, what with a very sparse population. Initially we waled along the road, and then started coming into the bay area through a opening near the road, and walking over the sand to the house. After a few days found other better route to walk, with independent houses on one side, and thick green vegetation on the other side. The downturn of the US economy was evident from the number of properties put up for sale. During the course of our three months stay, we found that some properties which had prices notified, bringing down the prices by a few thousands. Our walk used to cover around 5 kms. and take more than an hour, since I had to match the speed of my dear wife. We used to leave home between 7.15 and 7.30 and return by around 9.00 am.
The nearest departmental store was called Publix, and it was located around a km from our place. I hardly saw anyone walking to make purchases, all used to drive down. The nearest Wall mart store was located around 7 kms away. All our purchases like milk, curd, vegetables etc. were from Publix, and Wall Mart was visited once in a while. The other interesting market near Wall mart, is Flea Market, open only and saturdays, and sundays, where in you can get from house hold goods to clothes, electrical appliances, etc. both used and new ones. One corner is reserved for chinese goods being sold at near throwaway prices. It is somewhat akin to our chor bazar but much better organised, and nothing illegal about it. It also has a vegetable stall where one could get some fresh veggies.
The best thing about the towns in US is the free public library, where in you can borrow number of books at a time, as well as CDs/DVDs. I could watch some very old Hollywood classics. There is also a recreation centre with basket ball court, tennis courts, football and baseball courts etc. There is no charge for use of tennis court facilities.
The people generally are very cheerful, and wish you on morning walks even though they might be seeing you for the first time in their life. The cars and other vehicles respect the rights of the pedestrians, unlike in our Great Bharat, where a pedestrian is treated as a pest by the car/vehicle drivers. Overtaking by cars is done very systematically where there are two lanes each way, but on single lane roads, no overtaking as such is seen. The cars are ready to follow the bikes or other slow moving vehicles.
The offices are mostly located in down town area, and one has to drive to the office around 10 kms. each way daily. Most of the big malls are also located either in down town area or near the air port. One such big mall is Cardova Mall, with a number of stores inside, catering to people of both sexes and all age groups. To reach the down town area, one had to cross a three mile bridge, with water on both the sides, and the drive over the brigde is beautiful to say the least. Most of the clothes are from the Asian continent. Major supplier of all goods is China, and I feel if China stops producing and catering to the needs of US market and consumer, for some reason or the other, US market will close down. Such is the Chinese dominance of US economy. Almost all electronic, household, and many other items are outsourced from China, both the US companies, and China being beneficiaries. However, one dreads to think of the consequences of dependence on one individual source for all your requirements.
US economy is a consumer economy, with only spending as the motto, with savings having no place, and all purchased being made through credit card, though debit card may also be in use to an extent. Savings from Asian countries, China, and Japan is fuelling the US economy, and to a lesser extent Indian savings too helps.
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