Notes from the Midwest
1st February 2016
We’ve been in Chicago, Illinois for two months now, arriving with our seven week old baby the day before Thanksgiving. This celebration was closely followed by the frenzy of cookie making and gifting that seems to dominate the middle class American way of celebrating Christmas (a positive start!).
Otherwise the holiday feels pretty much the same as in the UK but we are much more likely to have a white Christmas here and the decorations are often on a different scale (it’s quite normal in this town to commission a company to decorate your home). Christmas ‘hangs around’ longer too with the US public disregarding superstition in favour of maintaining visual festive cheer. Still, having everything up in February feels like it’s pushing things a bit…
We have ventured to downtown Chicago a few times since our arrival. Visitor appeal is perhaps diminished slightly over the winter (a lazy afternoon lying in Millennium park was replaced with awkward pushchair shuffling through horizontal sleet around Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, aka ‘The Bean’). Things to do and see were nevertheless fascinating and full of promise for the warmer seasons to come. Having stayed a few nights in the newly reopened Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, I can confirm that it is as wonderful as suggested on remodelista. It was no compromise spending time in the dimly lit gothic styled lounge and equally atmospheric game room bar when the weather was too inclement to venture out.
gameroomchicago.com
In the Art Institute of Chicago I was particularly taken by the absolutely stunning curved staircase, it transported me back to the one in Cotes Mill that I watched emerge from the ground in the Floors of Stone showroom and have admired ever since.
A few other observations:
You will only ever need one slice of the traditional Chicago style deep-dish pizza
It’s normal to buy milk by the gallon, even if you live in a two-person household.
-16°C with a wind chill of -24°C really does feel cold!
National events on the horizon are the Superbowl this coming weekend and we’re beginning to see signs that an election monster is on it’s way…
In my household the next challenge is passing the US driving test in an automatic car, on the ‘other’ side of the road. This will involve explaining the finer points of how to negotiate the four-way stop and why it’s ok to turn right on red.
I definitely do miss my job, colleagues and of course the Mill itself. However, I don’t feel so far away when I see a newly completed kitchen project displayed on the website (especially when I recognise it!).
Finally, for better or worse I now receive this through my door every other week.
