Well folks , traveling sure lets you see how different the world is from our very comfortable lives here in Canada.
I was in Lake City, South Carolina, once a thriving city with a firm hand in the textile and manufacturing industry. Then it all happened , cost of doing business in North America, caught up with them , like it has every where else. The jobs started to move out of country, to those places that now are where my customers are located, India, China, Mexico, Brazil.
One example is the former Coleman factory located not far from our plant. One day it closed, its sleeping bag operations moving to Mexico, cheap labour, cheap operations. Lawn is maintained in hopes someone will come to town and open some sort of operation.
The people down here are great, living their lives as best they can considering the brutal level of unemployment and the struggle to survive. Unfrotunately all of that has not done much to make Lake City a place to be living (at least not for me) Crime is expected rather high, too many people that dont have, a small number that have something and then even smaller number that have lots.
So you see it in the houses on the side of the road all within minutes of our plant.
Abandoned buildings, what look like they could have been housing of some type.
Not far down the road, someones old south style house (sorry pics while driving)
Some things surprsie you like the chain link fence and barbed-wire with sliding gate.
and just outside this area, someones place with a BMW in the driveway.
Your classic all American house including white picket fence.
Go figure there is a large asian community here (like every else in the world) one of the largest employers in town is Nanya Plastics, a Taiwanese owned operation. So of course chinese food was not to hard to find haha.
Favourite place to eat here is Hibachi Grill and Buffet in Florence, SC about 40 minutes north of Lake City. Diner buffet is $9 all you can stuff in you. Including a grill where you can mix up your own and they cook and sushi. hands down beats Mandarin any day of the week. And all Chinese staff, well expect the Mexican guy manning the grill haha.
I did go out to a local place for a burger one day , Lavelle's Diner, hole in the wall on some street corner
Was feeling awfully white that lunch hour, burgers where great, if you go ask for Cheese Burger Box - basically cheese burger with fries to go.
though not sure why they need bars on the front of the building, but might have to do with the dark murky bar that is also attached to the place,
People were nice, fast service, someones grandmother was cooking up a storm in the back.
of course found out as i was headed to the airport in Myrtle Beach that it was bike week there, so missed out on taking pics of motor bikes and of course motor bike girls haha
Did some pics this last week here in London. Friday night was experiment at local skate park, asked young guy if he would mind if we took a few pics while he was flying through the air.
Will do this again - there is a large park that will be worth a visit one evening this summer.
Also met up with Katie again for some pics out at her Grandmothers farm outside St Thomas,ON. Some old trucks and stuff dumped at the back of the property, great props
And latest update is that I am headed to Shanghai, China on June 11th for a fast 2 weeks of work and then much anticipated 2 week vaction in China before flying back July 11th. Wish it was longer but I aint complaining.
Life is good aside from the need to win a lottery ticket or two , oh Lotto Max please land my way
http://www.olg.ca/lotteries/games/howtoplay.do?game=lottomax sitting at $10,000,000 this morning. now that would make a difference haha.
I was in Lake City, South Carolina, once a thriving city with a firm hand in the textile and manufacturing industry. Then it all happened , cost of doing business in North America, caught up with them , like it has every where else. The jobs started to move out of country, to those places that now are where my customers are located, India, China, Mexico, Brazil.
One example is the former Coleman factory located not far from our plant. One day it closed, its sleeping bag operations moving to Mexico, cheap labour, cheap operations. Lawn is maintained in hopes someone will come to town and open some sort of operation.
The people down here are great, living their lives as best they can considering the brutal level of unemployment and the struggle to survive. Unfrotunately all of that has not done much to make Lake City a place to be living (at least not for me) Crime is expected rather high, too many people that dont have, a small number that have something and then even smaller number that have lots.
So you see it in the houses on the side of the road all within minutes of our plant.
Abandoned buildings, what look like they could have been housing of some type.
Not far down the road, someones old south style house (sorry pics while driving)
Your classic all American house including white picket fence.
Go figure there is a large asian community here (like every else in the world) one of the largest employers in town is Nanya Plastics, a Taiwanese owned operation. So of course chinese food was not to hard to find haha.
Favourite place to eat here is Hibachi Grill and Buffet in Florence, SC about 40 minutes north of Lake City. Diner buffet is $9 all you can stuff in you. Including a grill where you can mix up your own and they cook and sushi. hands down beats Mandarin any day of the week. And all Chinese staff, well expect the Mexican guy manning the grill haha.
I did go out to a local place for a burger one day , Lavelle's Diner, hole in the wall on some street corner
though not sure why they need bars on the front of the building, but might have to do with the dark murky bar that is also attached to the place,
People were nice, fast service, someones grandmother was cooking up a storm in the back.
of course found out as i was headed to the airport in Myrtle Beach that it was bike week there, so missed out on taking pics of motor bikes and of course motor bike girls haha
Did some pics this last week here in London. Friday night was experiment at local skate park, asked young guy if he would mind if we took a few pics while he was flying through the air.
Will do this again - there is a large park that will be worth a visit one evening this summer.
Also met up with Katie again for some pics out at her Grandmothers farm outside St Thomas,ON. Some old trucks and stuff dumped at the back of the property, great props
And latest update is that I am headed to Shanghai, China on June 11th for a fast 2 weeks of work and then much anticipated 2 week vaction in China before flying back July 11th. Wish it was longer but I aint complaining.
Life is good aside from the need to win a lottery ticket or two , oh Lotto Max please land my way
http://www.olg.ca/lotteries/games/howtoplay.do?game=lottomax sitting at $10,000,000 this morning. now that would make a difference haha.
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