Vacation Post !!: Back From Vacation

I'm happy to see you all but not so happy right now otherwise.  A humongous plant has sprouted from seed to five feet in four weeks, in the middle of the lawn.  This means nobody is unreplacable.
Which is not a word but I'm still working two or three language centers.

Good things I think should be imported to the US:  Department store escalators which don't move until someone actually uses them.  Toilets which have a smaller flush for pee, a bigger flush for poo and little shower attachments in case you wish to tidy your bottom end even more. 

These are common in public places.  And of course young dads much more involved with their children, probably because of the daddy leave which the US doesn't have at all.  It encourages bonding and all that stuff.

I also learned that the US banking and credit card systems are in stone ages, compared to Finland.  Oddly enough, that never stopped the US markets from breaking the world markets.  So strong are the claws of the power of the few.

That last post below is really very useful, by the way.