Thurs 12th April - East Hartford
My last post extolled the virtues of the Americans. But as well as being wonderfully friendly, they can also be quite blunt.
Last night, in my befuddled jet lagged state at the airport, I was going to the restroom when for some reason, I hesitated which way to go. A huge guy nearly bumped into me and expressed his annoyance with the following bark "Hey buddy, you need to get with the program here". In England there might have been a surly "tut tut" or maybe an "excuse me". But over here, it was some red necked idiot shouting to the whole airport that I need to get with the program. What exactly does that mean anyway - get with the program.
Despite this, my views on the natives haven't changed.
On my way to the airport to pick up my hire car this morning, the bus driver spent the whole journey giving me advice on where to eat, what to do, and the state of the nation. Finally he also filled me in on "those god dammed *** Yankees" (I presume he was talking about the baseball team, rather than Americans in general).
As predicted, I slept like a log last night, and my jet lag has gone (seems I haven't lost my touch after all). This morning, I realised that after two days of traveling, I hadn't eaten properly for some time and that I was ravenous.
Well, if there is one place to be if you're hungry then America is it. Breakfast consisted of an unfeasibly large mound of scrambled eggs, corn beef hash and about half a bottle of Tabasco. As ever, lashings of free coffee finished it off. What a meal and all for 5 dollars (£2.50) - compare that with the £20 quid or so you'll pay for a hotel breakfast in a good hotel in the UK/Europe.
Arriving at the hire car office, I was offered a complimentary bagel and the inevitable coffee. For the sake of my figure, I turned down the bagel, but was unable to resist the coffee!
