It's the sounds that are the hardest to convey. I can take pictures in HD and write thousands of words; I can even rely on the reader or viewer to know how hot is because we've all been somewhere hot and know that feeling.
The sound of this place is new to me so I would suppose it must be the same for others. The general peaceful quiet, with surround sound insect hum and occasional punctuation by the birds are easy. What is harder is to explain the voices of our fellow residents.
My knowledge of the South does not go far: I've read To Kill A Mockingbird and The Help and watched Cat on a Hot Tin Roof but that is not saying much. I watch True Blood of course, and that provides my main reference point for the accent (though I know too well that many of the principal characters are foreign even to these United States).
This morning, as I expect will be the case on many mornings hereafter, we spent the day in the clubhouse pool. There are two pools in this estate but this one is larger and cooler, with direct views across the beach below to the Gulf of Mexico.
I love to listen to the voices around me. As far as I can tell they are all Southern US accents (the license plates corroborate this being mainly from Georgia, Louisiana and Florida - with a sprinkling of Tennessee and Texas). We have the only other accents in the place. It feels friendly and safe although people largely keep to their own groups.
I have to confess that it is not necessarily an accent that I favour instinctively. Like many British people I have much better knowledge of the north east and south west coasts. The south has not exactly endeared itself to me in the little I know of its politics (the anti-gay amendment in North Carolina being the most recent). Florida's wretched role in the 2000 election and the outrageous efforts to exclude voters through new ID laws and purges are especially dismaying. Part of me is almost ashamed that we are spending our money in this state and wish the Supreme Court would drag it into the 21st century.
I suspect this clouds my view of the accent. It's ridiculous too: the idea that the states of New York and California may be characterized uniformly by the few neighbourhoods I have visited is absurd. We know lots of gay families across the country. That said I really feel proud of New York for the recent Pride and though California has no marriage equality yet we still have our magical daughter.
Hopefully we are helping to change attitudes, if indeed they even need to be changed. It's not exactly much of an effort just to have a wonderful time in this beautiful part of the world. And perhaps the main attitude that needs to change is mine.
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