odds and ends

If you write the date the local way today is 8/9/10.  I don't have much problem adapting to this format and I am trying to learn to use the 24-hour clock, but it is only used when there might be confusion, like for train schedules.  They don't say, "Let's go to the movie at 19 hours," or even "Let's go to the movie at 7 p.m.," because they assume you know that no one goes to movies at seven in the morning.  They use common sense!  The hardest thing to adjust to is the idea that the half-hours are said in reference to the future.  Instead of saying 7:30 or half-past seven, they say half-eight.  If it is 7:35 they say it is five past half-eight.  It is five before half-eight if it is 7:25.  Another place halves come in is the multiples of ten.  There is a longer and more interesting explanation here, but the short version is that it used to be the Danes counted by 20s, so 50 is said as half-60 (half way between 40 and 60) and 70 is said as half-80.  I don't understand why 90 sounds like half-five.

There are no water fountains at school.  The kids bring their cups and fill them up when they need to.

The few squirrels I have seen are red (photo taken from a Google image).

The cafe at the Target-type store has highchairs for the little ones to use.  These cost over $200 in the US and I guess they are standard here because I seem them all over the place.