| Author |
Message |
Django Cat
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 7:20 pm
Post subject: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
Beware, very long posting ahead...
Over the couple of years that I've been enjoying the cut and thrust of
AUE, I've mentioned a couple of times that I'd managed to reach my
mid-40s without visiting the US, but was planning to get round to it
soon.
Various RRs made helpful travel suggestions; Omrud said we'd find it
very foreign-feeling compared with travelling round Europe, Frances
told us how to get from the airport to Howard Johnson's in Newark, and
TC had handy advice on where to plug in a laptop while enjoying
Hungarian cabbage soup.
Well, in April we went. We counted the cars on the New Jersey
Turnpike from the back of Howard Js (there were a f*** of a lot), we
stomped on the Avenue by Radio City with a transistor and a large sum
of money to spend (wrong on two counts), we took our chances on a big
jet plane and went to California with an aching in our hearts (but
margaritas in our hands).
We had a great time.
People we met were friendly, and helpful... but surprisingly reserved.
We only struck up a couple of chats with strangers in the whole three
weeks.
I joined San Francisco public library to get net access, other than
that I didn't see any easy ways to get online day to day - about the
only Cybercafe I noticed in the three weeks was on Fifth Avenue, and
looked a major tourist rip-off, though there was a good cheap place on
Fisherman's Wharf. (Where the non-native-speaker counter assistant
started simplifying his English for me - pointing to the till so I'd
know what to pay. Natch enough- I *was* a foreign tourist). When we
went I'd just set the online survey going that I based my MEd
dissertation on, so it was nice when I did get the chance to watch it
slowly grow to 210 worldwide responses from ESOL teachers.
Anyway, though it's taken me a long time to get round to putting this
post together, here's some observations relating to some of the
transpondian usage discussions I've been involved in over the last
couple of years, based on a toe-dipping experience over 19 days, four
states and two major cities:-
On motoring:
People in California and Nevada were alarmingly polite drivers by
European standards. Now, I know everybody in the world likes to
believe they live in the ultimate hell-hole of bad driving (I was once
told by a taxi driver in the tiny UK burg of Kettering that it had the
worse traffic on Earth, bar none), but really guys, never a hoot,
nobody cut us up even in San Francisco, and the only cars that
overtook us out of town were really apologetic about it and took about
ten minutes to pass on a parallel course (in fact on at least one
occasion I got bored and braked to let the bugger pass). Is this
politeness because you fear an armed response to road rage incidents?
Turning right against a red light is scary, but seems the thing to do.
It was also the first time I'd ever driven an automatic. Approaching
the toll barrier at the Golden Gate the day we picked up the car, in a
series of kangaroo hops, was pretty embarrassing. And the toll
keepers wear rubber gloves?
We had a discussion about Motorway Services a while back. As far as I
could see, (but just from driving round CA and a bit of Nevada), the
concept doesn't exist, in much the same way that the European concept
of Motorways/Autobahns/Autostrada etc etc as being roads in a special
category of their own doesn't exist in the US (and that came out of an
AUE discussion about Freeways, Interstates etc referring to different
things in different places in the US). When you live in a country the
size of Oregon (the CIA says I do at
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html) the
arteries of the national road network take on a more iconic status...
and you get dedicated Motorway Services.
But in the states, you run low on fuel, you get off the highway and
buy gas. You need a pee? ... you get off the highway ... and buy gas.
You want a coffee? ... you get off the highway: we were getting the
picture here.
You need to buy a set of matching bathroom accessories featuring
Beatrix Potter characters, together with a broderie anglaise toilet
roll cover, very lame pornographic novels, some fudge or a novelty
chutney pot? No, you almost certainly don't.
In fact, you don't need Motorway Services at all. And frankly neither
do we at the inflated prices they charge us. (This revelation is
another triumph for travel broadening the mind).
You *do* have Cattle Grids. The warning signs before them in the CA
Sierras call them 'Cattle Guards'.
There is a roundabout in King City CA. Admittedly it serves a couple
of motels and some fast food joints on an integrated development,
rather than being a major traffic junction, but there you go. Again,
these things one ponders become blindingly obvious when you actually
go somewhere. In a country where, where possible, roads are arranged
on a grid, four-square stop junctions are all that's needed. If you
live in the European chaos of unplanned roads which have been going
their own sweet way for millenia, where up to seven major routes can
meet at the same junction, then you need roundabouts.
</bloke stuff>
We picked up on the usage of 'how are you?' by people serving us in
shops. In the UK, this a conversational gambit, and it's usually only
used with people you've previously met - even if it's the guy in the
corner shop and you've only been in once before. In a way, it's
saying 'I acknowledge that we've met before, and I remember you'.
And it is a request for *some* information, even if it's only "not too
bad" or snippets like "be glad when it's Friday" or "better now the
Sun's out" which also work well or, if you must, "still got the shakes
from my last bout of the old trouble". But these sorts of small talk
responses got us slightly weird looks, as did asking the person how
they were in return, so after a few days we just started saying
'good'.
Nobody said "oh you're Brits" the minute we opened our mouths. In
fact most people just looked slightly puzzled, as though they couldn't
quite place our weird speech patterns. On two occasions when I paid
with my Royal Bank of Scotland Credit Card people thought we were
Scots (we aren't, and don't sound it). But, as the lovely lady in
Hossano's said, "hey, same island, close enough!"
Sadly Rod Stewart was playing out of PAs everywhere we went, but every
nation has its dark side. In fact, after a lifetime of fantasising
about listening to all sorts of cool music while driving a muscle car
across the desert, it was horrendous that for the first five days
driving round backstate California we couldn't find a record store and
were forced to listen to distant fuzzy radio stations peddling C&W and
Guns 'n God. One chilling moment was the phone-in caller after the
Redlake shooting, who kept describing the Second Amendment as 'The
Second Commandment' and clearly had significant problems
distinguishing the US Constitution from the Book of Exodus.
Then there was a commentator talking about Jed Bush and some other
Florida politico during the agonising week waiting for Terry Schiavo
to die, and saying of them "One is a committed Christian while the
other recently became a catholic". (Are these things mutually
incompatible then?)
Some Radio was great - I really liked NPR, though it's a shame it
repeats so often. And irony is alive and well in radio ads - I loved
the Home Depot ad with the two guys lost in a mega store and meeting
like Livingstone and Stanley on the Zambezi, somewhere in the garden
furnishings department. Our B&Q is just like that. And I now listen
to KCSM Jazz 91 online from here in the mellow hills of Cheshire.
Eventually we found a little record store in Bishop where the
Beatlephile owner tried hard to get us to buy rare Moptops stuff. I
told him we lived within spitting distance of Liverpool - fridges?
Eskimos, anyone? - and we really wanted Americana. So I ended up
buying CDs by Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and U2. Yup, Americana by two
Canucks and a bunch of Irish guys. Sadly they didn't have 'Goats Head
Soup' or 'Led Zep 4' in stock. The car was pretty gnarly though. We
christened it 'the Great Silver Shark' in honour of Dr Gonzo and went
off looking for Bat Country.
In fact we never made it to Vegas. Death Valley was awash with
wildflowers and a very pleasant spring temperature. Expecting a
hellish inferno of naked rock I demanded my money back.
Anyone in the region, however, is urged to hurry and stay over at the
Bunk House Motel in Glennville on CA155 and get a steak in Hossano's
next door, which both get our prize for the friendliest welcome and
best meal we had... though the Clam Chowder in a shack somewhere near
Marshall, driving up to Bodega Bay in the rain was damn fine, as Kyle
Wossit would say. Then again 'Merican beer is unfairly slandered by
my countrymen. The gals in Wild Side West in Bernal Heights in
particular pull a mean pint of Steamer. Spotted in the wild: "with au
juice".
Back in SF, and in NYC, record shops I went in had 'World Music'
sections, containing exactly the same CDs you'd find in a UK record
shop World Music section. AEU/AUE obviously just doesn't hit the
demographic for this.
And now whinge time...
Well, our friend in SF did have an electric kettle. It was set to
heat water and turn off before it boiled. Not a lot of good for
infusing the ol' Lipton's Yellow label.
Just a quiet word, people. Electric cabling in Hotels and Motels?
The coffee maker plugs in over the wash basin? Health and Safety,
innit? Say no more for now. And why is there so much water in the
bog?
What's with the currency? What is that peculiar smell paper money
has? By no means unpleasant, sort of musky, or like old books, but it
was there right from picking up $500 in new bills from the Co-op in
Glossop. And why are dimes smaller than nickels? Why on Earth are the
bills all the same size and colour? Just how often do people pass
$100 when they meant to hand over $10 - especially in the dark in the
back of a taxi? Is this what's meant by 'the land of opportunity'?
Why do all middle class people in urban San Francisco own pick-up
trucks? What's with all that facial hair guys? (And no, not just
around the Castro). Why do you need all those chiropractors the
length of Mission and everywhere else?
Then there's a serious social risk of hyphenation getting out of
control, not to mention all those noun + ize adjectives...
</whinging -
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970909>
At least I found out why Golden Gate Park was full of ladies in red
hats and purple coats the day we visited. Apparently there's some
sort of society of ladies who've read that Jenny Joseph poem. A
mystery solved through listening to the Beeb when we got home.
Back on the East Coast we changed location from HJ's in Newark (hi
Joey) to the Penn on 7th. Didn't get up the Empire State (well,
there's wasn't much point - you couldn't see the top for fog from
42nd, so it seems reasonable the view wouldn't have been great looking
back down), but we took the exellent bus tour and waved to Areff over
the East River. Interesting to have the Armoury pointed out, built in
1880 - my house was built in 1865. Also doing the Met Museum in 25
minutes with a plane to catch is not advised (but better than not
doing it at all).
Walking through the park we came upon a group of people looking up a
tree. There at the top was a racoon, laboriously getting itself into
a hole - a guy we spoke to told us they're progressively moving
downtown through the park.... So it's true Maria, for New Yorkers
wildlife does mean Central Park. I mean, I'd never seen a racoon
before (the internal logic of this statement may not bear close
examination).
Yes the USA did feel more foreign than anywhere I've ever visited
before, with the possible exceptions of Morocco and Gateshead.
Common language, common shmanguage; ways of doing things, customs and
social conventions seemed a lot stranger than they do when I go to
France or Italy. But at least I could ask in a bar if you pay as you
go or wait for the waitress to come round, which is something in the
past I've been prevented from doing by my lack of, say, Serbo-Croat.
We had a very special time (just don't ask about Lake Tahoe and the
heart-shaped jacuzzi).
Never got to eat the Hungarian cabbage soup Coops. Maybe next time…
DC, back in the July Fog in Broady |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Areff
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 7:54 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
["Followup-To:" header set to alt.usage.english.]
Pat Durkin wrote:
| Quote: |
"John Dawkins" <artfldodgr@aol.com> wrote in message
news:artfldodgr-A96A42.08362822072005@individual.net...
If I understand the term "motorway services" correctly, such does exist
"back east", on the New York State Thruway and the Pennsylvania
Turnpike, for example.
Around Chicago, there used to be "oases", with Fred Harvey restaurants
making bridges across the tollways. There were gas stations available also.
The oases were separate from on- and off-ramp toll gates. But that was in
the '60s. I don't know if any of them exist today.
|
They were there as late as 2004. The Ohio Turnpike has them too, unless
I'm misremembering (and I think calls them 'oases'). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Areff
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 7:55 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
["Followup-To:" header set to alt.usage.english.]
Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:
| Quote: | Django Cat <nospam@please.com> writes:
I joined San Francisco public library to get net access,
And you didn't stop by? I'm crushed.
|
Stop by where? The Peninsula is like hours from the City, Erk! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bob Cunningham
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 7:58 pm
Post subject: Money is dirty [was: Re: Visiting Farn parts] |
|
|
On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:20:26 +0100, Django Cat
<nospam@please.com> said:
[...]
| Quote: | And the toll keepers wear rubber gloves?
|
Paper money is dirty stuff. My wife, who worked for a few
years in a school business office, found that out when she
had occasion to count a lot of money. I don't think she and
the other workers thought to wear latex gloves, but it
sounds like a good idea. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Laura F. Spira
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:06 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
Django Cat wrote:
<snip>
| Quote: | Just a quiet word, people. Electric cabling in Hotels and Motels?
The coffee maker plugs in over the wash basin? Health and Safety,
innit? Say no more for now. And why is there so much water in the
bog?
|
It's the hair dryers plugging in over the washbasins that terrify me.
| Quote: |
What's with the currency? What is that peculiar smell paper money
has? By no means unpleasant, sort of musky, or like old books, but it
was there right from picking up $500 in new bills from the Co-op in
Glossop. And why are dimes smaller than nickels? Why on Earth are the
bills all the same size and colour? Just how often do people pass
$100 when they meant to hand over $10 - especially in the dark in the
back of a taxi? Is this what's meant by 'the land of opportunity'?
|
Is there anywhere else in the world where all the paper money looks the
same?
[..]
| Quote: |
At least I found out why Golden Gate Park was full of ladies in red
hats and purple coats the day we visited. Apparently there's some
sort of society of ladies who've read that Jenny Joseph poem. A
mystery solved through listening to the Beeb when we got home.
|
Thye had a float in the New Year's Day Parade in London - very
impressive but I'm not sure what they actually *do*.
[..]
Excellent post, I enjoyed it.
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Areff
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:08 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
["Followup-To:" header set to alt.usage.english.]
Django Cat wrote:
| Quote: | Turning right against a red light is scary, but seems the thing to do.
|
Not in the City of New York (Largest City in America), of course, where it
is illegal pretty much everywhere (unless a sign indicates otherwise) to
turn right on red.
| Quote: | Then there was a commentator talking about Jed Bush and some other
Florida politico during the agonising week waiting for Terry Schiavo
to die, and saying of them "One is a committed Christian while the
other recently became a catholic". (Are these things mutually
incompatible then?)
|
Yes, we've discussed this before on a number of occasions. CTA.
| Quote: | What's with the currency? What is that peculiar smell paper money
has?
|
Cocaine?
| Quote: | Just how often do people pass $100 when they meant to hand over $10 -
especially in the dark in the back of a taxi?
|
I don't think it's that common for people to carry $100 bills with them,
especially nowadays when so many people get cash from ATMs (which
typically dispense only $10s and $20s, often only $20s). Coop may be an
exception here.
| Quote: | Why do all middle class people in urban San Francisco own pick-up
trucks?
|
I've noticed a similar phenomenon in Seattle. Some weird West Coast
cultural thing. So San Francisco is the same... good to know.
| Quote: | What's with all that facial hair guys?
|
Huh?
| Quote: | Back on the East Coast we changed location from HJ's in Newark (hi
Joey) to the Penn on 7th. Didn't get up the Empire State (well,
there's wasn't much point - you couldn't see the top for fog from
42nd, so it seems reasonable the view wouldn't have been great looking
back down), but we took the exellent bus tour and waved to Areff over
the East River. Interesting to have the Armoury pointed out, built in
1880 - my house was built in 1865.
|
Huh? "The" Armory? There are lots of armories. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ray o'hara
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:13 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
"Django Cat" <nospam@please.com> wrote in message
news:2kp1e1ludg5ap9hp6jon62pli1akanr5t9@4ax.com...
| Quote: | Beware, very long posting ahead...
Over the couple of years that I've been enjoying the cut and thrust of
AUE, I've mentioned a couple of times that I'd managed to reach my
mid-40s without visiting the US, but was planning to get round to it
soon.
Various RRs made helpful travel suggestions; Omrud said we'd find it
very foreign-feeling compared with travelling round Europe, Frances
told us how to get from the airport to Howard Johnson's in Newark, and
TC had handy advice on where to plug in a laptop while enjoying
Hungarian cabbage soup.
Well, in April we went. We counted the cars on the New Jersey
Turnpike from the back of Howard Js (there were a f*** of a lot), we
stomped on the Avenue by Radio City with a transistor and a large sum
of money to spend (wrong on two counts), we took our chances on a big
jet plane and went to California with an aching in our hearts (but
margaritas in our hands).
We had a great time.
People we met were friendly, and helpful... but surprisingly reserved.
We only struck up a couple of chats with strangers in the whole three
weeks.
I joined San Francisco public library to get net access, other than
that I didn't see any easy ways to get online day to day - about the
only Cybercafe I noticed in the three weeks was on Fifth Avenue, and
looked a major tourist rip-off, though there was a good cheap place on
Fisherman's Wharf. (Where the non-native-speaker counter assistant
started simplifying his English for me - pointing to the till so I'd
know what to pay. Natch enough- I *was* a foreign tourist). When we
went I'd just set the online survey going that I based my MEd
dissertation on, so it was nice when I did get the chance to watch it
slowly grow to 210 worldwide responses from ESOL teachers.
Anyway, though it's taken me a long time to get round to putting this
post together, here's some observations relating to some of the
transpondian usage discussions I've been involved in over the last
couple of years, based on a toe-dipping experience over 19 days, four
states and two major cities:-
On motoring:
People in California and Nevada were alarmingly polite drivers by
European standards. Now, I know everybody in the world likes to
believe they live in the ultimate hell-hole of bad driving (I was once
told by a taxi driver in the tiny UK burg of Kettering that it had the
worse traffic on Earth, bar none), but really guys, never a hoot,
nobody cut us up even in San Francisco, and the only cars that
overtook us out of town were really apologetic about it and took about
ten minutes to pass on a parallel course (in fact on at least one
occasion I got bored and braked to let the bugger pass). Is this
politeness because you fear an armed response to road rage incidents?
Turning right against a red light is scary, but seems the thing to do.
It was also the first time I'd ever driven an automatic. Approaching
the toll barrier at the Golden Gate the day we picked up the car, in a
series of kangaroo hops, was pretty embarrassing. And the toll
keepers wear rubber gloves?
We had a discussion about Motorway Services a while back. As far as I
could see, (but just from driving round CA and a bit of Nevada), the
concept doesn't exist, in much the same way that the European concept
of Motorways/Autobahns/Autostrada etc etc as being roads in a special
category of their own doesn't exist in the US (and that came out of an
AUE discussion about Freeways, Interstates etc referring to different
things in different places in the US). When you live in a country the
size of Oregon (the CIA says I do at
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html) the
arteries of the national road network take on a more iconic status...
and you get dedicated Motorway Services.
But in the states, you run low on fuel, you get off the highway and
buy gas. You need a pee? ... you get off the highway ... and buy gas.
You want a coffee? ... you get off the highway: we were getting the
picture here.
You need to buy a set of matching bathroom accessories featuring
Beatrix Potter characters, together with a broderie anglaise toilet
roll cover, very lame pornographic novels, some fudge or a novelty
chutney pot? No, you almost certainly don't.
In fact, you don't need Motorway Services at all. And frankly neither
do we at the inflated prices they charge us. (This revelation is
another triumph for travel broadening the mind).
You *do* have Cattle Grids. The warning signs before them in the CA
Sierras call them 'Cattle Guards'.
There is a roundabout in King City CA. Admittedly it serves a couple
of motels and some fast food joints on an integrated development,
rather than being a major traffic junction, but there you go. Again,
these things one ponders become blindingly obvious when you actually
go somewhere. In a country where, where possible, roads are arranged
on a grid, four-square stop junctions are all that's needed. If you
live in the European chaos of unplanned roads which have been going
their own sweet way for millenia, where up to seven major routes can
meet at the same junction, then you need roundabouts.
/bloke stuff
We picked up on the usage of 'how are you?' by people serving us in
shops. In the UK, this a conversational gambit, and it's usually only
used with people you've previously met - even if it's the guy in the
corner shop and you've only been in once before. In a way, it's
saying 'I acknowledge that we've met before, and I remember you'.
And it is a request for *some* information, even if it's only "not too
bad" or snippets like "be glad when it's Friday" or "better now the
Sun's out" which also work well or, if you must, "still got the shakes
from my last bout of the old trouble". But these sorts of small talk
responses got us slightly weird looks, as did asking the person how
they were in return, so after a few days we just started saying
'good'.
Nobody said "oh you're Brits" the minute we opened our mouths. In
fact most people just looked slightly puzzled, as though they couldn't
quite place our weird speech patterns. On two occasions when I paid
with my Royal Bank of Scotland Credit Card people thought we were
Scots (we aren't, and don't sound it). But, as the lovely lady in
Hossano's said, "hey, same island, close enough!"
Sadly Rod Stewart was playing out of PAs everywhere we went, but every
nation has its dark side. In fact, after a lifetime of fantasising
about listening to all sorts of cool music while driving a muscle car
across the desert, it was horrendous that for the first five days
driving round backstate California we couldn't find a record store and
were forced to listen to distant fuzzy radio stations peddling C&W and
Guns 'n God. One chilling moment was the phone-in caller after the
Redlake shooting, who kept describing the Second Amendment as 'The
Second Commandment' and clearly had significant problems
distinguishing the US Constitution from the Book of Exodus.
Then there was a commentator talking about Jed Bush and some other
Florida politico during the agonising week waiting for Terry Schiavo
to die, and saying of them "One is a committed Christian while the
other recently became a catholic". (Are these things mutually
incompatible then?)
Some Radio was great - I really liked NPR, though it's a shame it
repeats so often. And irony is alive and well in radio ads - I loved
the Home Depot ad with the two guys lost in a mega store and meeting
like Livingstone and Stanley on the Zambezi, somewhere in the garden
furnishings department. Our B&Q is just like that. And I now listen
to KCSM Jazz 91 online from here in the mellow hills of Cheshire.
Eventually we found a little record store in Bishop where the
Beatlephile owner tried hard to get us to buy rare Moptops stuff. I
told him we lived within spitting distance of Liverpool - fridges?
Eskimos, anyone? - and we really wanted Americana. So I ended up
buying CDs by Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and U2. Yup, Americana by two
Canucks and a bunch of Irish guys. Sadly they didn't have 'Goats Head
Soup' or 'Led Zep 4' in stock. The car was pretty gnarly though. We
christened it 'the Great Silver Shark' in honour of Dr Gonzo and went
off looking for Bat Country.
In fact we never made it to Vegas. Death Valley was awash with
wildflowers and a very pleasant spring temperature. Expecting a
hellish inferno of naked rock I demanded my money back.
Anyone in the region, however, is urged to hurry and stay over at the
Bunk House Motel in Glennville on CA155 and get a steak in Hossano's
next door, which both get our prize for the friendliest welcome and
best meal we had... though the Clam Chowder in a shack somewhere near
Marshall, driving up to Bodega Bay in the rain was damn fine, as Kyle
Wossit would say. Then again 'Merican beer is unfairly slandered by
my countrymen. The gals in Wild Side West in Bernal Heights in
particular pull a mean pint of Steamer. Spotted in the wild: "with au
juice".
Back in SF, and in NYC, record shops I went in had 'World Music'
sections, containing exactly the same CDs you'd find in a UK record
shop World Music section. AEU/AUE obviously just doesn't hit the
demographic for this.
And now whinge time...
Well, our friend in SF did have an electric kettle. It was set to
heat water and turn off before it boiled. Not a lot of good for
infusing the ol' Lipton's Yellow label.
Just a quiet word, people. Electric cabling in Hotels and Motels?
The coffee maker plugs in over the wash basin? Health and Safety,
innit? Say no more for now. And why is there so much water in the
bog?
What's with the currency? What is that peculiar smell paper money
has? By no means unpleasant, sort of musky, or like old books, but it
was there right from picking up $500 in new bills from the Co-op in
Glossop. And why are dimes smaller than nickels? Why on Earth are the
bills all the same size and colour? Just how often do people pass
$100 when they meant to hand over $10 - especially in the dark in the
back of a taxi? Is this what's meant by 'the land of opportunity'?
Why do all middle class people in urban San Francisco own pick-up
trucks? What's with all that facial hair guys? (And no, not just
around the Castro). Why do you need all those chiropractors the
length of Mission and everywhere else?
Then there's a serious social risk of hyphenation getting out of
control, not to mention all those noun + ize adjectives...
/whinging -
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970909
At least I found out why Golden Gate Park was full of ladies in red
hats and purple coats the day we visited. Apparently there's some
sort of society of ladies who've read that Jenny Joseph poem. A
mystery solved through listening to the Beeb when we got home.
Back on the East Coast we changed location from HJ's in Newark (hi
Joey) to the Penn on 7th. Didn't get up the Empire State (well,
there's wasn't much point - you couldn't see the top for fog from
42nd, so it seems reasonable the view wouldn't have been great looking
back down), but we took the exellent bus tour and waved to Areff over
the East River. Interesting to have the Armoury pointed out, built in
1880 - my house was built in 1865. Also doing the Met Museum in 25
minutes with a plane to catch is not advised (but better than not
doing it at all).
Walking through the park we came upon a group of people looking up a
tree. There at the top was a racoon, laboriously getting itself into
a hole - a guy we spoke to told us they're progressively moving
downtown through the park.... So it's true Maria, for New Yorkers
wildlife does mean Central Park. I mean, I'd never seen a racoon
before (the internal logic of this statement may not bear close
examination).
Yes the USA did feel more foreign than anywhere I've ever visited
before, with the possible exceptions of Morocco and Gateshead.
Common language, common shmanguage; ways of doing things, customs and
social conventions seemed a lot stranger than they do when I go to
France or Italy. But at least I could ask in a bar if you pay as you
go or wait for the waitress to come round, which is something in the
past I've been prevented from doing by my lack of, say, Serbo-Croat.
We had a very special time (just don't ask about Lake Tahoe and the
heart-shaped jacuzzi).
Never got to eat the Hungarian cabbage soup Coops. Maybe next time.
DC, back in the July Fog in Broady
|
You should have visted New England.
Why would you expect world music here to be different than what you have
there? It's the same world after all. You seem to have searched out all the
American Gommorahs. Foreigners view the U.S as NYC,Vegas,Disney and L.A.we
see it as the extremely mundane{boring} places like Keokuk Iowa and
Poughkeepsie New York. The Empire State building is a pain in the ass to
visit, you wait in line to get halfway up and then you wait in another to
get the rest of the way. Tis better to go uptown to the Riverside Church a
large Prot edifice built by John D. You can take the elevator to the top of
the steeple there are no lines to wait in and you get a spectacular view of
the city . All the windows are made by Louis comfort Tiffiny the greatest
stained glass maker ever and they are strikingly beautiful . Grant's Tomb,
the largest tomb in the U.S.A, is across the street and free to visit this
allows you to answer the famous American question "who's buried in Grant's
tomb?" correctly.
It does sound as if you had fun. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Alec McKenzie
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:27 pm
Post subject: Re: Money is dirty [was: Re: Visiting Farn parts] |
|
|
Bob Cunningham <exw6sxq@earthlink.net> wrote:
| Quote: | On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:20:26 +0100, Django Cat
nospam@please.com> said:
[...]
And the toll keepers wear rubber gloves?
Paper money is dirty stuff. My wife, who worked for a few
years in a school business office, found that out when she
had occasion to count a lot of money. I don't think she and
the other workers thought to wear latex gloves, but it
sounds like a good idea.
|
Filthy lucre, as the saying goes.
--
Alec McKenzie
mckenzie@despammed.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Django Cat
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:28 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 15:06:26 +0100, "Laura F. Spira"
<laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | Django Cat wrote:
snip
Just a quiet word, people. Electric cabling in Hotels and Motels?
The coffee maker plugs in over the wash basin? Health and Safety,
innit? Say no more for now. And why is there so much water in the
bog?
It's the hair dryers plugging in over the washbasins that terrify me.
What's with the currency? What is that peculiar smell paper money
has? By no means unpleasant, sort of musky, or like old books, but it
was there right from picking up $500 in new bills from the Co-op in
Glossop. And why are dimes smaller than nickels? Why on Earth are the
bills all the same size and colour? Just how often do people pass
$100 when they meant to hand over $10 - especially in the dark in the
back of a taxi? Is this what's meant by 'the land of opportunity'?
Is there anywhere else in the world where all the paper money looks the
same?
|
Not that I've visited.
| Quote: | [..]
At least I found out why Golden Gate Park was full of ladies in red
hats and purple coats the day we visited. Apparently there's some
sort of society of ladies who've read that Jenny Joseph poem. A
mystery solved through listening to the Beeb when we got home.
Thye had a float in the New Year's Day Parade in London - very
impressive but I'm not sure what they actually *do*.
|
Hang out and get old disgracefully as far as I can tell...
| Quote: |
[..]
Excellent post, I enjoyed it.
|
Thanks! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Django Cat
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:31 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 10:13:06 -0400, "ray o'hara" <roh@comcast.net>
wrote:
| Quote: |
"Django Cat" <nospam@please.com> wrote in message
news:2kp1e1ludg5ap9hp6jon62pli1akanr5t9@4ax.com...
Beware, very long posting ahead...
Over the couple of years that I've been enjoying the cut and thrust of
AUE, I've mentioned a couple of times that I'd managed to reach my
mid-40s without visiting the US, but was planning to get round to it
soon.
Various RRs made helpful travel suggestions; Omrud said we'd find it
very foreign-feeling compared with travelling round Europe, Frances
told us how to get from the airport to Howard Johnson's in Newark, and
TC had handy advice on where to plug in a laptop while enjoying
Hungarian cabbage soup.
Well, in April we went. We counted the cars on the New Jersey
Turnpike from the back of Howard Js (there were a f*** of a lot), we
stomped on the Avenue by Radio City with a transistor and a large sum
of money to spend (wrong on two counts), we took our chances on a big
jet plane and went to California with an aching in our hearts (but
margaritas in our hands).
We had a great time.
People we met were friendly, and helpful... but surprisingly reserved.
We only struck up a couple of chats with strangers in the whole three
weeks.
I joined San Francisco public library to get net access, other than
that I didn't see any easy ways to get online day to day - about the
only Cybercafe I noticed in the three weeks was on Fifth Avenue, and
looked a major tourist rip-off, though there was a good cheap place on
Fisherman's Wharf. (Where the non-native-speaker counter assistant
started simplifying his English for me - pointing to the till so I'd
know what to pay. Natch enough- I *was* a foreign tourist). When we
went I'd just set the online survey going that I based my MEd
dissertation on, so it was nice when I did get the chance to watch it
slowly grow to 210 worldwide responses from ESOL teachers.
Anyway, though it's taken me a long time to get round to putting this
post together, here's some observations relating to some of the
transpondian usage discussions I've been involved in over the last
couple of years, based on a toe-dipping experience over 19 days, four
states and two major cities:-
On motoring:
People in California and Nevada were alarmingly polite drivers by
European standards. Now, I know everybody in the world likes to
believe they live in the ultimate hell-hole of bad driving (I was once
told by a taxi driver in the tiny UK burg of Kettering that it had the
worse traffic on Earth, bar none), but really guys, never a hoot,
nobody cut us up even in San Francisco, and the only cars that
overtook us out of town were really apologetic about it and took about
ten minutes to pass on a parallel course (in fact on at least one
occasion I got bored and braked to let the bugger pass). Is this
politeness because you fear an armed response to road rage incidents?
Turning right against a red light is scary, but seems the thing to do.
It was also the first time I'd ever driven an automatic. Approaching
the toll barrier at the Golden Gate the day we picked up the car, in a
series of kangaroo hops, was pretty embarrassing. And the toll
keepers wear rubber gloves?
We had a discussion about Motorway Services a while back. As far as I
could see, (but just from driving round CA and a bit of Nevada), the
concept doesn't exist, in much the same way that the European concept
of Motorways/Autobahns/Autostrada etc etc as being roads in a special
category of their own doesn't exist in the US (and that came out of an
AUE discussion about Freeways, Interstates etc referring to different
things in different places in the US). When you live in a country the
size of Oregon (the CIA says I do at
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html) the
arteries of the national road network take on a more iconic status...
and you get dedicated Motorway Services.
But in the states, you run low on fuel, you get off the highway and
buy gas. You need a pee? ... you get off the highway ... and buy gas.
You want a coffee? ... you get off the highway: we were getting the
picture here.
You need to buy a set of matching bathroom accessories featuring
Beatrix Potter characters, together with a broderie anglaise toilet
roll cover, very lame pornographic novels, some fudge or a novelty
chutney pot? No, you almost certainly don't.
In fact, you don't need Motorway Services at all. And frankly neither
do we at the inflated prices they charge us. (This revelation is
another triumph for travel broadening the mind).
You *do* have Cattle Grids. The warning signs before them in the CA
Sierras call them 'Cattle Guards'.
There is a roundabout in King City CA. Admittedly it serves a couple
of motels and some fast food joints on an integrated development,
rather than being a major traffic junction, but there you go. Again,
these things one ponders become blindingly obvious when you actually
go somewhere. In a country where, where possible, roads are arranged
on a grid, four-square stop junctions are all that's needed. If you
live in the European chaos of unplanned roads which have been going
their own sweet way for millenia, where up to seven major routes can
meet at the same junction, then you need roundabouts.
/bloke stuff
We picked up on the usage of 'how are you?' by people serving us in
shops. In the UK, this a conversational gambit, and it's usually only
used with people you've previously met - even if it's the guy in the
corner shop and you've only been in once before. In a way, it's
saying 'I acknowledge that we've met before, and I remember you'.
And it is a request for *some* information, even if it's only "not too
bad" or snippets like "be glad when it's Friday" or "better now the
Sun's out" which also work well or, if you must, "still got the shakes
from my last bout of the old trouble". But these sorts of small talk
responses got us slightly weird looks, as did asking the person how
they were in return, so after a few days we just started saying
'good'.
Nobody said "oh you're Brits" the minute we opened our mouths. In
fact most people just looked slightly puzzled, as though they couldn't
quite place our weird speech patterns. On two occasions when I paid
with my Royal Bank of Scotland Credit Card people thought we were
Scots (we aren't, and don't sound it). But, as the lovely lady in
Hossano's said, "hey, same island, close enough!"
Sadly Rod Stewart was playing out of PAs everywhere we went, but every
nation has its dark side. In fact, after a lifetime of fantasising
about listening to all sorts of cool music while driving a muscle car
across the desert, it was horrendous that for the first five days
driving round backstate California we couldn't find a record store and
were forced to listen to distant fuzzy radio stations peddling C&W and
Guns 'n God. One chilling moment was the phone-in caller after the
Redlake shooting, who kept describing the Second Amendment as 'The
Second Commandment' and clearly had significant problems
distinguishing the US Constitution from the Book of Exodus.
Then there was a commentator talking about Jed Bush and some other
Florida politico during the agonising week waiting for Terry Schiavo
to die, and saying of them "One is a committed Christian while the
other recently became a catholic". (Are these things mutually
incompatible then?)
Some Radio was great - I really liked NPR, though it's a shame it
repeats so often. And irony is alive and well in radio ads - I loved
the Home Depot ad with the two guys lost in a mega store and meeting
like Livingstone and Stanley on the Zambezi, somewhere in the garden
furnishings department. Our B&Q is just like that. And I now listen
to KCSM Jazz 91 online from here in the mellow hills of Cheshire.
Eventually we found a little record store in Bishop where the
Beatlephile owner tried hard to get us to buy rare Moptops stuff. I
told him we lived within spitting distance of Liverpool - fridges?
Eskimos, anyone? - and we really wanted Americana. So I ended up
buying CDs by Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and U2. Yup, Americana by two
Canucks and a bunch of Irish guys. Sadly they didn't have 'Goats Head
Soup' or 'Led Zep 4' in stock. The car was pretty gnarly though. We
christened it 'the Great Silver Shark' in honour of Dr Gonzo and went
off looking for Bat Country.
In fact we never made it to Vegas. Death Valley was awash with
wildflowers and a very pleasant spring temperature. Expecting a
hellish inferno of naked rock I demanded my money back.
Anyone in the region, however, is urged to hurry and stay over at the
Bunk House Motel in Glennville on CA155 and get a steak in Hossano's
next door, which both get our prize for the friendliest welcome and
best meal we had... though the Clam Chowder in a shack somewhere near
Marshall, driving up to Bodega Bay in the rain was damn fine, as Kyle
Wossit would say. Then again 'Merican beer is unfairly slandered by
my countrymen. The gals in Wild Side West in Bernal Heights in
particular pull a mean pint of Steamer. Spotted in the wild: "with au
juice".
Back in SF, and in NYC, record shops I went in had 'World Music'
sections, containing exactly the same CDs you'd find in a UK record
shop World Music section. AEU/AUE obviously just doesn't hit the
demographic for this.
And now whinge time...
Well, our friend in SF did have an electric kettle. It was set to
heat water and turn off before it boiled. Not a lot of good for
infusing the ol' Lipton's Yellow label.
Just a quiet word, people. Electric cabling in Hotels and Motels?
The coffee maker plugs in over the wash basin? Health and Safety,
innit? Say no more for now. And why is there so much water in the
bog?
What's with the currency? What is that peculiar smell paper money
has? By no means unpleasant, sort of musky, or like old books, but it
was there right from picking up $500 in new bills from the Co-op in
Glossop. And why are dimes smaller than nickels? Why on Earth are the
bills all the same size and colour? Just how often do people pass
$100 when they meant to hand over $10 - especially in the dark in the
back of a taxi? Is this what's meant by 'the land of opportunity'?
Why do all middle class people in urban San Francisco own pick-up
trucks? What's with all that facial hair guys? (And no, not just
around the Castro). Why do you need all those chiropractors the
length of Mission and everywhere else?
Then there's a serious social risk of hyphenation getting out of
control, not to mention all those noun + ize adjectives...
/whinging -
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970909
At least I found out why Golden Gate Park was full of ladies in red
hats and purple coats the day we visited. Apparently there's some
sort of society of ladies who've read that Jenny Joseph poem. A
mystery solved through listening to the Beeb when we got home.
Back on the East Coast we changed location from HJ's in Newark (hi
Joey) to the Penn on 7th. Didn't get up the Empire State (well,
there's wasn't much point - you couldn't see the top for fog from
42nd, so it seems reasonable the view wouldn't have been great looking
back down), but we took the exellent bus tour and waved to Areff over
the East River. Interesting to have the Armoury pointed out, built in
1880 - my house was built in 1865. Also doing the Met Museum in 25
minutes with a plane to catch is not advised (but better than not
doing it at all).
Walking through the park we came upon a group of people looking up a
tree. There at the top was a racoon, laboriously getting itself into
a hole - a guy we spoke to told us they're progressively moving
downtown through the park.... So it's true Maria, for New Yorkers
wildlife does mean Central Park. I mean, I'd never seen a racoon
before (the internal logic of this statement may not bear close
examination).
Yes the USA did feel more foreign than anywhere I've ever visited
before, with the possible exceptions of Morocco and Gateshead.
Common language, common shmanguage; ways of doing things, customs and
social conventions seemed a lot stranger than they do when I go to
France or Italy. But at least I could ask in a bar if you pay as you
go or wait for the waitress to come round, which is something in the
past I've been prevented from doing by my lack of, say, Serbo-Croat.
We had a very special time (just don't ask about Lake Tahoe and the
heart-shaped jacuzzi).
Never got to eat the Hungarian cabbage soup Coops. Maybe next time.
DC, back in the July Fog in Broady
You should have visted New England.
Why would you expect world music here to be different than what you have
there? It's the same world after all. You seem to have searched out all the
American Gommorahs. Foreigners view the U.S as NYC,Vegas,Disney and L.A.we
see it as the extremely mundane{boring} places like Keokuk Iowa and
Poughkeepsie New York. The Empire State building is a pain in the ass to
visit, you wait in line to get halfway up and then you wait in another to
get the rest of the way. Tis better to go uptown to the Riverside Church a
large Prot edifice built by John D. You can take the elevator to the top of
the steeple there are no lines to wait in and you get a spectacular view of
the city . All the windows are made by Louis comfort Tiffiny the greatest
stained glass maker ever and they are strikingly beautiful . Grant's Tomb,
the largest tomb in the U.S.A, is across the street and free to visit this
allows you to answer the famous American question "who's buried in Grant's
tomb?" correctly.
It does sound as if you had fun.
|
We did, Ray it was great. New England is high up the list for next
time, next to New Orleans and the South. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Django Cat
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:32 pm
Post subject: Re: Money is dirty [was: Re: Visiting Farn parts] |
|
|
On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 13:58:18 GMT, Bob Cunningham
<exw6sxq@earthlink.net> wrote:
| Quote: | On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:20:26 +0100, Django Cat
nospam@please.com> said:
[...]
And the toll keepers wear rubber gloves?
Paper money is dirty stuff. My wife, who worked for a few
years in a school business office, found that out when she
had occasion to count a lot of money. I don't think she and
the other workers thought to wear latex gloves, but it
sounds like a good idea.
|
Yes it does. And there's me thinking it was the threat of terrorist
biological weapons. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Django Cat
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:38 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 10:13:06 -0400, "ray o'hara" <roh@comcast.net>
wrote:
| Quote: |
"Django Cat" <nospam@please.com> wrote in message
news:2kp1e1ludg5ap9hp6jon62pli1akanr5t9@4ax.com...
Beware, very long posting ahead...
Over the couple of years that I've been enjoying the cut and thrust of
AUE, I've mentioned a couple of times that I'd managed to reach my
mid-40s without visiting the US, but was planning to get round to it
soon.
Various RRs made helpful travel suggestions; Omrud said we'd find it
very foreign-feeling compared with travelling round Europe, Frances
told us how to get from the airport to Howard Johnson's in Newark, and
TC had handy advice on where to plug in a laptop while enjoying
Hungarian cabbage soup.
Well, in April we went. We counted the cars on the New Jersey
Turnpike from the back of Howard Js (there were a f*** of a lot), we
stomped on the Avenue by Radio City with a transistor and a large sum
of money to spend (wrong on two counts), we took our chances on a big
jet plane and went to California with an aching in our hearts (but
margaritas in our hands).
We had a great time.
People we met were friendly, and helpful... but surprisingly reserved.
We only struck up a couple of chats with strangers in the whole three
weeks.
I joined San Francisco public library to get net access, other than
that I didn't see any easy ways to get online day to day - about the
only Cybercafe I noticed in the three weeks was on Fifth Avenue, and
looked a major tourist rip-off, though there was a good cheap place on
Fisherman's Wharf. (Where the non-native-speaker counter assistant
started simplifying his English for me - pointing to the till so I'd
know what to pay. Natch enough- I *was* a foreign tourist). When we
went I'd just set the online survey going that I based my MEd
dissertation on, so it was nice when I did get the chance to watch it
slowly grow to 210 worldwide responses from ESOL teachers.
Anyway, though it's taken me a long time to get round to putting this
post together, here's some observations relating to some of the
transpondian usage discussions I've been involved in over the last
couple of years, based on a toe-dipping experience over 19 days, four
states and two major cities:-
On motoring:
People in California and Nevada were alarmingly polite drivers by
European standards. Now, I know everybody in the world likes to
believe they live in the ultimate hell-hole of bad driving (I was once
told by a taxi driver in the tiny UK burg of Kettering that it had the
worse traffic on Earth, bar none), but really guys, never a hoot,
nobody cut us up even in San Francisco, and the only cars that
overtook us out of town were really apologetic about it and took about
ten minutes to pass on a parallel course (in fact on at least one
occasion I got bored and braked to let the bugger pass). Is this
politeness because you fear an armed response to road rage incidents?
Turning right against a red light is scary, but seems the thing to do.
It was also the first time I'd ever driven an automatic. Approaching
the toll barrier at the Golden Gate the day we picked up the car, in a
series of kangaroo hops, was pretty embarrassing. And the toll
keepers wear rubber gloves?
We had a discussion about Motorway Services a while back. As far as I
could see, (but just from driving round CA and a bit of Nevada), the
concept doesn't exist, in much the same way that the European concept
of Motorways/Autobahns/Autostrada etc etc as being roads in a special
category of their own doesn't exist in the US (and that came out of an
AUE discussion about Freeways, Interstates etc referring to different
things in different places in the US). When you live in a country the
size of Oregon (the CIA says I do at
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html) the
arteries of the national road network take on a more iconic status...
and you get dedicated Motorway Services.
But in the states, you run low on fuel, you get off the highway and
buy gas. You need a pee? ... you get off the highway ... and buy gas.
You want a coffee? ... you get off the highway: we were getting the
picture here.
You need to buy a set of matching bathroom accessories featuring
Beatrix Potter characters, together with a broderie anglaise toilet
roll cover, very lame pornographic novels, some fudge or a novelty
chutney pot? No, you almost certainly don't.
In fact, you don't need Motorway Services at all. And frankly neither
do we at the inflated prices they charge us. (This revelation is
another triumph for travel broadening the mind).
You *do* have Cattle Grids. The warning signs before them in the CA
Sierras call them 'Cattle Guards'.
There is a roundabout in King City CA. Admittedly it serves a couple
of motels and some fast food joints on an integrated development,
rather than being a major traffic junction, but there you go. Again,
these things one ponders become blindingly obvious when you actually
go somewhere. In a country where, where possible, roads are arranged
on a grid, four-square stop junctions are all that's needed. If you
live in the European chaos of unplanned roads which have been going
their own sweet way for millenia, where up to seven major routes can
meet at the same junction, then you need roundabouts.
/bloke stuff
We picked up on the usage of 'how are you?' by people serving us in
shops. In the UK, this a conversational gambit, and it's usually only
used with people you've previously met - even if it's the guy in the
corner shop and you've only been in once before. In a way, it's
saying 'I acknowledge that we've met before, and I remember you'.
And it is a request for *some* information, even if it's only "not too
bad" or snippets like "be glad when it's Friday" or "better now the
Sun's out" which also work well or, if you must, "still got the shakes
from my last bout of the old trouble". But these sorts of small talk
responses got us slightly weird looks, as did asking the person how
they were in return, so after a few days we just started saying
'good'.
Nobody said "oh you're Brits" the minute we opened our mouths. In
fact most people just looked slightly puzzled, as though they couldn't
quite place our weird speech patterns. On two occasions when I paid
with my Royal Bank of Scotland Credit Card people thought we were
Scots (we aren't, and don't sound it). But, as the lovely lady in
Hossano's said, "hey, same island, close enough!"
Sadly Rod Stewart was playing out of PAs everywhere we went, but every
nation has its dark side. In fact, after a lifetime of fantasising
about listening to all sorts of cool music while driving a muscle car
across the desert, it was horrendous that for the first five days
driving round backstate California we couldn't find a record store and
were forced to listen to distant fuzzy radio stations peddling C&W and
Guns 'n God. One chilling moment was the phone-in caller after the
Redlake shooting, who kept describing the Second Amendment as 'The
Second Commandment' and clearly had significant problems
distinguishing the US Constitution from the Book of Exodus.
Then there was a commentator talking about Jed Bush and some other
Florida politico during the agonising week waiting for Terry Schiavo
to die, and saying of them "One is a committed Christian while the
other recently became a catholic". (Are these things mutually
incompatible then?)
Some Radio was great - I really liked NPR, though it's a shame it
repeats so often. And irony is alive and well in radio ads - I loved
the Home Depot ad with the two guys lost in a mega store and meeting
like Livingstone and Stanley on the Zambezi, somewhere in the garden
furnishings department. Our B&Q is just like that. And I now listen
to KCSM Jazz 91 online from here in the mellow hills of Cheshire.
Eventually we found a little record store in Bishop where the
Beatlephile owner tried hard to get us to buy rare Moptops stuff. I
told him we lived within spitting distance of Liverpool - fridges?
Eskimos, anyone? - and we really wanted Americana. So I ended up
buying CDs by Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and U2. Yup, Americana by two
Canucks and a bunch of Irish guys. Sadly they didn't have 'Goats Head
Soup' or 'Led Zep 4' in stock. The car was pretty gnarly though. We
christened it 'the Great Silver Shark' in honour of Dr Gonzo and went
off looking for Bat Country.
In fact we never made it to Vegas. Death Valley was awash with
wildflowers and a very pleasant spring temperature. Expecting a
hellish inferno of naked rock I demanded my money back.
Anyone in the region, however, is urged to hurry and stay over at the
Bunk House Motel in Glennville on CA155 and get a steak in Hossano's
next door, which both get our prize for the friendliest welcome and
best meal we had... though the Clam Chowder in a shack somewhere near
Marshall, driving up to Bodega Bay in the rain was damn fine, as Kyle
Wossit would say. Then again 'Merican beer is unfairly slandered by
my countrymen. The gals in Wild Side West in Bernal Heights in
particular pull a mean pint of Steamer. Spotted in the wild: "with au
juice".
Back in SF, and in NYC, record shops I went in had 'World Music'
sections, containing exactly the same CDs you'd find in a UK record
shop World Music section. AEU/AUE obviously just doesn't hit the
demographic for this.
And now whinge time...
Well, our friend in SF did have an electric kettle. It was set to
heat water and turn off before it boiled. Not a lot of good for
infusing the ol' Lipton's Yellow label.
Just a quiet word, people. Electric cabling in Hotels and Motels?
The coffee maker plugs in over the wash basin? Health and Safety,
innit? Say no more for now. And why is there so much water in the
bog?
What's with the currency? What is that peculiar smell paper money
has? By no means unpleasant, sort of musky, or like old books, but it
was there right from picking up $500 in new bills from the Co-op in
Glossop. And why are dimes smaller than nickels? Why on Earth are the
bills all the same size and colour? Just how often do people pass
$100 when they meant to hand over $10 - especially in the dark in the
back of a taxi? Is this what's meant by 'the land of opportunity'?
Why do all middle class people in urban San Francisco own pick-up
trucks? What's with all that facial hair guys? (And no, not just
around the Castro). Why do you need all those chiropractors the
length of Mission and everywhere else?
Then there's a serious social risk of hyphenation getting out of
control, not to mention all those noun + ize adjectives...
/whinging -
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970909
At least I found out why Golden Gate Park was full of ladies in red
hats and purple coats the day we visited. Apparently there's some
sort of society of ladies who've read that Jenny Joseph poem. A
mystery solved through listening to the Beeb when we got home.
Back on the East Coast we changed location from HJ's in Newark (hi
Joey) to the Penn on 7th. Didn't get up the Empire State (well,
there's wasn't much point - you couldn't see the top for fog from
42nd, so it seems reasonable the view wouldn't have been great looking
back down), but we took the exellent bus tour and waved to Areff over
the East River. Interesting to have the Armoury pointed out, built in
1880 - my house was built in 1865. Also doing the Met Museum in 25
minutes with a plane to catch is not advised (but better than not
doing it at all).
Walking through the park we came upon a group of people looking up a
tree. There at the top was a racoon, laboriously getting itself into
a hole - a guy we spoke to told us they're progressively moving
downtown through the park.... So it's true Maria, for New Yorkers
wildlife does mean Central Park. I mean, I'd never seen a racoon
before (the internal logic of this statement may not bear close
examination).
Yes the USA did feel more foreign than anywhere I've ever visited
before, with the possible exceptions of Morocco and Gateshead.
Common language, common shmanguage; ways of doing things, customs and
social conventions seemed a lot stranger than they do when I go to
France or Italy. But at least I could ask in a bar if you pay as you
go or wait for the waitress to come round, which is something in the
past I've been prevented from doing by my lack of, say, Serbo-Croat.
We had a very special time (just don't ask about Lake Tahoe and the
heart-shaped jacuzzi).
Never got to eat the Hungarian cabbage soup Coops. Maybe next time.
DC, back in the July Fog in Broady
You should have visted New England.
Why would you expect world music here to be different than what you have
there? It's the same world after all.
|
It came out of a thread a while back where a couple of people were
saying this *term* used for categorising and lumping together various
non-western genres wasn't familiar in the US; not that the music was
any more or less known. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
John O'Flaherty
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:40 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
Django Cat wrote:
| Quote: | Beware, very long posting ahead...
|
Very entertaining, worth every minute.
| Quote: | Just a quiet word, people. Electric cabling in Hotels and Motels?
The coffee maker plugs in over the wash basin? Health and Safety,
innit? Say no more for now.
|
They almost certainly have ground fault circuit interruptors (GFCIs)
that disconnect the circuit if even a microscopic current escapes the
loop. I know that where I live (Missouri), they are required, not only
in bathrooms, but for outlets in any area with a concrete floor. They
even have to be retrofitted to sell an existing structure.
--
john |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ray o'hara
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:49 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
"Django Cat" <> >
| Quote: |
We did, Ray it was great. New England is high up the list for next
time, next to New Orleans and the South.
|
New Orleans is the most overrated dump you will ever encounter. It is
surrounded by refineries and chemical plants that would make New Jersey
envious and you can get cancer just looking at them. If you are some bayou
rat or a hillbilly from Arkansas it must seem a wonderful place but anybody
familiar with real cities will be disappointed.
T-shirt shops and sleazy strip clubs dominate the "world famous" Bourbon
Street. If you wish to experience the cuisine just buy some of Pul
Prudhommes's Cajun Blackend Red Fish and Poultry Seasoning, pour it
thickly on to a piece of fish or chicken and then burn the hell out of it.
The South is best experienced by avoiding its cities. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ray o'hara
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 8:55 pm
Post subject: Re: Visiting Farn parts |
|
|
"Django Cat" <nospam@please.com> wrote in message news:> >
| Quote: | Why would you expect world music here to be different than what you have
there? It's the same world after all.
It came out of a thread a while back where a couple of people were
saying this *term* used for categorising and lumping together various
non-western genres wasn't familiar in the US; not that the music was
any more or less known.
|
Over here the term World Music means anything not from the U.S.A, the U.K
and Canada. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| |
FAQ
Memberlist
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in