by Anna Jones Buttimore
I move onto this topic with some trepidation, since my last two efforts (on poetry and the perfect day) have appeared to continue or start something of a theme. If I get the other ladies taking up this subject I suspect some very long and lyrical blogs will ensue and we could be here all night.
On Saturday I fly out to America. We are spending two weeks in Florida, then flying to Wyoming to visit an old school friend of mine, and then driving to Salt Lake City to visit just about everyone. I am so excited I keep forgetting to breathe. It’ll be my fourth visit to the USA, and so by now I am starting to learn the language. I know, for example, not to arrive at an airport and demand a trolley (when I probably mean a cart), lest I upset the lovely person who has come to collect me in an unfeasibly large, yet apparently unsuitable, car. I’m even almost blasé about seeing those incredibly exotic sights. On the first day of one visit I rode the Zoo Train at Arizona Zoo and gasped and exclaimed at all the amazingly rare, interesting and unusual things I saw - Drinking fountains! Pretzel stands! Helpful salespeople!
So here’s what I love about America, and what I am looking forward to:
Free refills • Taco Bell • Keen and smiling waiters and waitresses • People who bag your groceries for you • Wendy’s • Denny’s • Churros • Corn dogs • Corn bread • Drinking fountains • Pretzel stands • Florida weather • Utah weather (where even the snow is warm) • Wide roads • Open spaces • Closets • Big Houses • People not only knowing what LDS means, but thinking it’s normal • Lots of other people being LDS too • Cheap petrol • Earnest and straightforward people • “All-you-can-eat” • Pretzels • Being able to buy shoes in my size • Trail mix • TV with adverts • Helpful salespeople • People liking my accent (over here my Essex accent is thought to be unpleasant and common) • Bookshops with seating areas and cafes where you’re encouraged to look through the books before you buy • Seeing my book on shelves in bookshops • Reacquainting myself with lots of wonderful people I don’t see often enough • Finally meeting lots of wonderful people I feel I already know!
Four days to go…
2 comments:
I'm looking forward to your visit too We've been friends so long I sometimes forget we haven't actually met.
It's fun to read about the things you're looking forward to!
The first time I went to London, I was completely boggled by the lack of drinking fountains. Here, every mall and museum and theater has a drinking fountain. I finally figured out that I needed to carry a water bottle with me! We Americans love our drinking fountains.
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