Townsend and Angeles - Two ports miles apart !

Port Townsend is a really charming place with beautiful wooden Victorian houses along

tree lined streets in the square mile Uptown area These overlook the waterside downtown businesses along Washington Street .It has quite a large senior community as evidenced by the crutches and incontinence pants on sale in the local drug store . The streets are fairly clear throughout this part of town as there is no through traffic though parking can be difficult as there are so many businesses here .

It is also home to many active democrats judging from the profusion of " war is not the answer " peace signs and Obama bumper stickers . Lets hope he succeeds in making the country better and they are not replaced over the next couple of years with " I didn't vote for the change " ones . He has a lot of good will but the jury is still out !

Port Angeles has wider busy streets with heavy through traffic though well managed with the main highway passing to the south and being split into westbound and eastbound within the town . Here I saw something I had never seen before . On some of the pedestrian crossings there were small red flags available on both sides . The Idea is that you wave one as you cross and leave it on the other side when you continue on your journey . In this state as in Oregon once you have set foot on a " cross walk " the traffic is meant to stop for you . There are no lights but that is the law and mostly seems to work . No " peace not war signs here but an abundance of American flags are evident . It is very strange to me but here people seem to migrate to different areas sometimes based on their political views - most surprising and not alltogether healthy .
It is olso true but , as in England that the most liberal big government socialist leaning people are often the rich and live in the best areas whereas the conservative , small government , individual liberty gun owners are often far poorer . I have a sneaking suspicion that as in England the "share the wealth " crowd try to make sure they hold on to their own pretty tightly .
As a foreigner I feel it is not my place to tell American citizens how to run their own country unlike the vast number of anti Bush , ignorant " know it alls " that inhabit the British and international media .

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