The city of Hamilton, about 5 miles southwest of St. George, is a lot like Palo Alto, although chances are this will mean nothing to readers who have seen neither. The bulk of the place is spread along 3 parallel streets and a waterfront. The only concession to the American fast food joint is (mercifully) a KFC (very popular with the local school kids), and McD's is nowhere in sight. Praise the Lord God Almighty. Marks and Sparks has pride of place, although there are fewer British shops and goods than I thought there would be - no Holland's pies in the supermarket, although there is the English selection of Cadbury's candy bars (Blokie's: not for the ladies!), bakewell tarts, and a proliferation of salt and vinegar potato crisps. As usual, though, the Americans are the ones who seem to have had their way for most of the brand-name G+S stores. Eating places are mostly unreasonably expensive, and feature less seafood than I thought they would. Though I'm dying to try the fabled Bermudan rockfish, $23.95++ for a portion at the pub we went to seemed a little too exorbitant for my first week here, and I settled for a tepid pasta instead. Rum swizzle is also on the must try list, since it is to Bermuda what the Singapore Sling is to, um, Singapore.

(Winter) books:
Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
The Following Story - Cees Notebloom
South of the Border, West of the Sun - Haruki Murakami
After the Quake - Haruki Murakami