America Can't Say No
Twenty miles outside Orlando because the rental people lied about the location of the villa until we'd paid a deposit. I'm in the great American suburbs, where there is nothing to do for miles around - rows and rows of identical houses. No parks, no shops, no bars.
Can't go anywhere on my own as I can't drive and a taxi downtown is $50 each way. There is a bi-hourly bus from a stop about 4 miles away but for all intents and purposes there is no public transport here.
It is a bizarre culture with almost total dependency on the car. In the local alternative paper the city's development officer discusses the possibility that the American public may almost be ready for a downtown which can be traversed on foot. If (when) the oil runs out then this country will be utterly crippled and unable to function on even the most basic level.
Went clubbing downtown on Friday and there are a few dozen bars on Church Street, most of which were playing hideous commercial R&B music. Found a place which resembled The Gloucester where everyone knew each other. People are friendly, it's easy to start conversations here even if they rarely go anywhere. Women are stunning here, but the UK has a pretty polluted gene pool.
It's not all bad though. I wake up in the morning and swim lengths in the pool until my arms ache and then float about a bit, being watched by lizards sunning themselves on the walls. Breakfast is Florida orange juice, cherries, watermelon, avocado, prawns and pecan pie.
It is a culture entirely centred on consumption, there's not much to do except buy things in endless shops at vast malls. Food is spectacularly cheap and fresh stuff is of excellent quality. As such a vast country there is a viable market for almost any product, no matter how daft it may appear to everyone except the few people it appeals to. Local supermarket (Publix - a convenience store here but would be a superstore in the UK) has products like ice-cream for dogs and cloths for bald men to polish their heads to a gleaming shine.
Restaurants have all been awful so far, despite the great ingredients there is no art in the preparation of food and no appreciation of it's consumption from the patrons. $10 all you can eat buffets where you get herded around ropes like cattle. Speaking of cattle, I agree that the British can't cook steak to save their lives.
For all the perception of America as a nanny-state it is far less regulated than the UK - lassez-faire capitalism is the order of the day. Even the Department of Motor Vehicles (a government agency, equiv. DVLA) provides driving guides which are sponsored by a local private company and contain advertising.
I admit I was expecting the place to be another Britain with slightly nicer weather, but it is a totally alien culture and adjusting is a bit of a shock.
I don't know if I like it here, but I have no idea where else I'd go.
Can't go anywhere on my own as I can't drive and a taxi downtown is $50 each way. There is a bi-hourly bus from a stop about 4 miles away but for all intents and purposes there is no public transport here.
It is a bizarre culture with almost total dependency on the car. In the local alternative paper the city's development officer discusses the possibility that the American public may almost be ready for a downtown which can be traversed on foot. If (when) the oil runs out then this country will be utterly crippled and unable to function on even the most basic level.
Went clubbing downtown on Friday and there are a few dozen bars on Church Street, most of which were playing hideous commercial R&B music. Found a place which resembled The Gloucester where everyone knew each other. People are friendly, it's easy to start conversations here even if they rarely go anywhere. Women are stunning here, but the UK has a pretty polluted gene pool.
It's not all bad though. I wake up in the morning and swim lengths in the pool until my arms ache and then float about a bit, being watched by lizards sunning themselves on the walls. Breakfast is Florida orange juice, cherries, watermelon, avocado, prawns and pecan pie.
It is a culture entirely centred on consumption, there's not much to do except buy things in endless shops at vast malls. Food is spectacularly cheap and fresh stuff is of excellent quality. As such a vast country there is a viable market for almost any product, no matter how daft it may appear to everyone except the few people it appeals to. Local supermarket (Publix - a convenience store here but would be a superstore in the UK) has products like ice-cream for dogs and cloths for bald men to polish their heads to a gleaming shine.
Restaurants have all been awful so far, despite the great ingredients there is no art in the preparation of food and no appreciation of it's consumption from the patrons. $10 all you can eat buffets where you get herded around ropes like cattle. Speaking of cattle, I agree that the British can't cook steak to save their lives.
For all the perception of America as a nanny-state it is far less regulated than the UK - lassez-faire capitalism is the order of the day. Even the Department of Motor Vehicles (a government agency, equiv. DVLA) provides driving guides which are sponsored by a local private company and contain advertising.
I admit I was expecting the place to be another Britain with slightly nicer weather, but it is a totally alien culture and adjusting is a bit of a shock.
I don't know if I like it here, but I have no idea where else I'd go.