Election Day in Our Neck of the Woods.

The elections took place today and the event is quite conspicuous. Adds on TV are everywhere, and most of them are negative, pointing the finger to the opposite candidate, guilty of many wrongdoings and most of the time represented by an unflattering picture surrounded by swirling dollar bills. This demonstrates that the opposite candidate squandered away the money of the taxpayer and/or is financially dependent of lobbies and/or obviously unable to steer the country away from the recession.

We also receive phone calls: messages to remind us to go and vote for the right candidate. Yesterday morning, still in bed, I looked at the ringing phone and saw that the caller was identified as “toll free”. I did not pick up and was glad I did not. Our recorder was fully able to receive the message by itself – that was a prerecorded message reminding us that the country relies on us. I cannot do much for the country when it comes to voting. I am not American (yet?).

The National elections always take place on the first Tuesday of November. This date in the year was picked when the United States population was mostly composed of farmers. In November, the harvest is done but the weather is not too cold yet. Tuesday was preferred to Monday because at the time, the voters had to go through a long journey to cast their ballot. A vote on Monday would have meant to start the trip on a Sunday, the Lord’s Day which was not acceptable.

The proximity of date with Halloween may cause some interference in communication. That day, our neighbor always transforms his house, across from ours, in a large cemetery complete with huge spider webs. This time, he also put up a sign for one of the candidates. Does he support this guy? Or is it his way to express that this candidate has ideas that should remain in the cemetery of outdated stuff, next to his own sign “Beware”?