This evening I was watching the Channel 9 Evening News in Sydney, Australia. They started to talk about America and President Trump and then said that they were going to show how a town in Mid-America has supported him. I wondered what town they would talk about, and to my surprise they started showing images of and talking about Ottumwa, Iowa.

I quickly grabbed my camera and took some pictures as they talked about Ottumwa.

They showed some images of the downtown area and talked about how Ottumwa is in the second poorest county in Iowa. They also showed pictures of the packing plant and talked about local industry and how it may be affected by President Trump’s policies.

They showed a nice aerial picture of Ottumwa, but I missed it. Instead I got this out of focus picture of the reporter standing in front of one of the Ottumwa bridges.

Here is another shot of the bridges. I always remember Ottumwa for the bridges.

They talked about how President Trump visited Ottumwa during the campaign and that it was visits like this that helped build support for him in Mid-America.

The local correspondent for Channel 9 even talked to Tom Lazio the Ottumwa mayor.

Those of you who follow my blog may know that I lived in Ottumwa when I was a kid, so this came as a complete surprise to me.

Imagine being so far away in a different country and seeing news about a small city of 25,000 people where you grew up. I think the only thing that exceeds this from a TV surprise standpoint was seeing my brother on TV while in China. He was at the World Series when it was played in Arizona many years ago.

I wonder if anybody that I know here in Sydney saw the story. I will have to ask at the office tomorrow.

Surprised in Sydney.

Steven