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and last updated July 4th.,1998.

WELCOME TO MY DAY..

IT IS NICE TO HAVE YOU SHARE IT WITH ME...

Atlanta, Georgia, USA....
Well, I am here in Atlanta, on America's birthday.....
That makes one Queen's Birthday, and one nation's birthday in one unplanned holiday...
They started letting off fireworks here long before sundown on the 3rd, and the noise seemed to go on all night.....then more of the same this evening..big crowds downtown and seeming to be enjoying themselves!
Even the traffic police seemd rarther jovial..
Though I don't think Dave was REAL pleased when his 'scenic tour' was held up so much by crowds and traffic jams. I mean, I was loving looking at Atlanta's nightlife, but HE was trying to unload me so he could get back to what was left of HIS nightlife!!
Was a magic night, Dave..but, next time round , I PROMISE, I am going to DRIVE in this country!
Good to see that most Atlantians don't seem to be having a problem with my accent!
But at Chicago airport , where I spent more hours than I care to recall, they listened to me with the kind of incredulous expressions which they will greet the first Martian visitors..
And try asking for pantyhose at that airport..I gave up in the end and wore two pink blobs of nailpolish on the ladder, instead!
And I have decided against asking for TEA on American planes...so much quicker and safer to order Cawfee or Carfee , depending on the state!
But you have to remember the milk and sugar doesn't come to you automatically, as in Australia...like real men don't eat quiche, seems real Americans take their coffee neat!
And don't look for an electric kettle of jug in American hotel rooms...
You will get a coffeemaker, if the facility is so organized, (we would call it a Drip Percolator), and a small plastic saucepan for use in the microwave....
It was days before a desperate Aussie-style craving for a cup of tea forced me to use this strange tannin-brewing device.....
So yes, I guess I AM homesick...just a little, anyway!
And when I get home, I want a garbage disposal in the sink and an icemaker 'frig!
I told my husband I want an invisible bathplug, too, but he said we cannot afford to seriously upset our plumber!

Now, on Tuesday, that homesickness was more than just a little..
I was homesick for Australian space, and calmness and reasonably settled weather and flight plans..
American skies are crowded, over filled with irritable weather and irritable people..
To be fair, here, I need to use the bus transit system, and the train transit system before I pass final judgement, but there is no doubt that our smaller population makes for happier flying..

To begin with, weather conditions made leaving on time impossible, not weather conditions at Burlington, but weather conditions between Burlington and Chicago, which had grounded the plane that would come for us and take us back there..
Aand the half hour expected delay turned into two and a half hours and noone KNEW any details but there were lots of rumours...and each passenger coming upstairs to the gate lounge had another story..
And unlike Australia, where, if the airline company is delaying you, someone comes around and issues you a meal voucher, and you get to EAT, American airlines are more interested in flying folk than feeding folk, MUCH more interested..
But because the plane was always on its way, none of us dared leave the gatelounge to find a meal, so it was a hungry lot of people who finally boarded the plane more than two hours late..
I gave up hope of lunch when I heard, from the toilet, one hostess offering the other a halfshare of the one Caesar Salad she had managed to find aboard...
And I gave up hope of making the second connection when the pilot advised us, from directly over PITTSBURGH, that we were going to take a somewhat longer time than expected to actually REACH Chicago...but when he invited us to look at what he called a CELL to the right of the plane, and explained what was happening inside that cloud, and underneath that cloud, noone was about to argue, especially when we were assured United Airline would have Customer Service teams meeting the plane to ensure we all reached suitable connecting flights!
Well, I don't know which plane those teams actually MET, but I found myself quite alone, in the longest, sunniest airport concourse I have seen, towing my computer in its carry-on bag, and wondering how on earth I was going to get to Atlanta, and what I was going to do when I reached there, since the airport phone in Burlington had eaten my American change and declared I had the wrong number for my host in Atlanta, (I DID), and the phone in Chicago wouldn't use non-American credit cards..
But I figured, One step at a time and looked at the departures board and found one more flight to Atlanta for the day, and went to THAT gatelounge, where, to cut a VERY long story short, after a lot of ID checks and translating of my weird words, a very large black lady booked me onto THAT flight, and promised my luggage would probably be making its way there too!
And that only gave me an expected two plus hours' wait...
Plenty of time to find unladdered pantyhose????
HA!!!
Even that chain of airport stores promising Travellers' Need' doesn't place pantyhose high on the list!
And I found out that the famous brand of coffee doesn't come with milk and sugar....

Of course, soon as Mother Nature realised where I WAS, she organized a typical welcome- weather reception for me..same as I have received all over the world so far...
So you won't be surprised to hear that, as I waited, they started cancelling planes to and from everywhere, as weather conditions really closed in on the East Coast..
So I wasn't even annoyed when we just got later..and later..just sort of RESIGNED..
I mean,it was a great chance to really look at Americans..hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them tramping up and down that sunny concourse...that is, those who weren't being WHEELED by the black uniformed attendants who seem to meet each plane...
I decided there and then NEVER to stop coloring my hair, because it seems that even the hint of grey is enough to bring a wheelchair shoved under one's legs..

And something else that was interesting was the number of people over 50 walking about with staff badges on..
Whereas, in Australia, they'd have been pensioned off to make way for the young, unemployed, here the country seems to actually NEED them, even as, GULP, Flight Attendants!, since I saw several hosties with grey hair, and the United Airlines uniforms come in several styles, some obviously cut for the more, er, mature figure
And I saw, note this, Aussies, lots and lots of FEMALE Flight Officers, some wearing wings...
Hmm, perhaps that's what the black kid sitting next to me when we finally were aboard, and had actually taken off, meant when he said he couldn't see any angels...
So I guess I wasn't just being flippant when I said that the angels always sIt up front with the Captain...

But I met my first Ugly American when we finally boarded..only 6 hours late, (we had to wait another hour to take off but that is another, tedious story) when the gentleman firmly seated in the aisle seat objected strongly to having to stand up to let me take my (unasked-for, since I hate this part of it) window-seat, and then even more to being asked to stand and put my tennis racquet into the overhead luggage locker....
I tried to place his accent when he snarled:

"WhaddyaWANT??"
but it wasn't the gentle tones of Vermont, that's for sure..sounded a bit clipped-British, shades of Ivy-League Boston..probably a refugee from some non-go flight, feeling himself displaced from upfront in First Class..
Nor were the two males who started exhibiting an over-supply of testosterone, right in the aisle beside Row 8, speaking in tongues of diplomacy....I heard more of the agressive male cliches in the next few minutes than in my whole life, I think..
I mean, guys here really DO say to each other..
" Buddy, don't give me a hard time here!!"
and "Right, BUDDY, let's settle this outside!!"

So there was plenty to look at and think about while we waited for part of our flight crew that was coming in on the late plane from Vermont, the one I had thought too late to be considered..
And as we taxied, and waited, and taxied and waited, I was interested (appalled? ) to see cars and buses and trucks using the same 'roads' as the plane, and noone seeming quite sure which of us had the right of way.... er....DIFFERENT!!!

But by the time we got going, (they were firing us off at 30 second intervals by then), I had made friends with the fat black kid beside me, if only to infuriate Mr AisleSeat, and as we rose majestically, and VERY quickly, the Kid confided that the island we could see was Hawaii...
Hmm, Clark Kent, suggest you keep your day job..you have a worthy rival...
And when I gave the kid my Belgian five-franc coin, he asked if that was the money they use in Vermont..
But it got better when were passing over a city, and I asked the kid what it was, (I was pretty sure it had to be St Louis) and he opined Kansas, so we asked Mr AS for an opinion, and he snapped,

" How the HELL should I know..kinda hard to TELL from two miles up!!
Now the captain had just said we were going to stay down around 3500 feet, and from that height one can almost tell the color of the tinted contact lenses the inhabitants have just inserted, but I figured the AS had just had a bad day and wanted to share it, so I tried again, and said I had thought perhaps he might make the trip often and know exactly where we were..(appealing to the male sense of direction, and all that...)
And his reply was so very much in keeping with his AS personality, that I decided it must be tiresome indeed to have so many cities that one can totally lose track of them...in Australia we have so few that we know when we are over one...
And we know when we have met a true AS-H, too!!

So I decided that perhaps geography is not an American strong suit...,which was a real pity because we stayed low, and flew between the clouds, (shades of Charlton Heston holding back the rolling waves of the Red Sea/Dead Sea?), and I saw so many INTERESTING things I would have liked explained...
For example, I'm sure there is definitely a meteor impact area between Chicago and Atlanta....
Is that big crater where they find the dinosaur eggs?
And why does the black soil of the Vermont area and the brown soil of the Missouri area give way so very quickly to the red earth of Georgia?
And are those etched out fish-spine stretches of wetland the famed Bayoux, or the Everglades..or what?
And when some food came in little Kentucky-Fried type boxes, we fell on it, spiced mustard in a squeese-pack included...
By then, I'd have eaten THAT neat, just as I had to take my tea..the term, just a tiny drop of milk, delivered in an Australian accent, being more than either of the hostesses could translate...so, just like the flight from Belgium when they ran out of tonic by Row 15, I took the drink undiluted..

But we finally touched down, as one always hopes to do, and smoothly indeed, and I was not at all surprised to hear that the city was about to receive a heavy, and most unexpected electrical storm..I mean, didn't they realise who was just ARRIVING..hadn't they prepared the STORM SHUTTERS??
And there, having waited all afternoon, until 8.30pm, was Dave III, my host, who had never met me except on ICQ, and he was holding an AQ sign, which I saw later, but I knew him at once, though the ponytail doesn't show on his ICQ picture...
but it suited him, as did his hat...and very suitable for the weather, which was doing the cats and dogs thing by this..
And he had parked on the very roof of the carpark, which gave us a superb view of Atlantian lightning, and,since Dave couldn't find the hotel right away, I was given an unscheduled tour of the city,and we talked about Blade Runner , with its neon views of another steamy, overheated metropolis...
and I looked around at Dave's car, a true (autocuriousity) collector's item, and knew this week was going to be VERY different from my ten days in Vermont..and we arrived laughing but wet enough that the friendly Marriot staff issued us with immediate towels..
and before I opened my cases, I had unpacked the laptop and checked out the datapoint.....

And, as you can see folks,it's working FINE!!

And I have found the citizens band radio station with its classical music and great local news, and I have answered some interesting EMail, and talked online to the folks from home and abroad, and looked at the First Of The Month bills from my Australian ISP, (*grin*..hmm.. so husband said he would NEVER use five hours a day, did he??), and found that washing,dries at once...and the first afternoon Dave took me to see some shops...
(I had asked about walking to the nearest shopping plaza and the staff here said I shouldn't because there are ....NO SIDEWALKS..
What??Again?? Here too???
Don't Americans have FEET??
Wasn't there a Nancy Sinatra song about BOOTS..and WALKING?

So why are all the people wearing these walking/tennis shoes and socks?
But it appears the plight of the American pedestrian is gradually making its presence felt..
From Vermont, Rudco tell me that a question has been asked in a Progress Association meeting about the difficulty (tgourist) pedestrians have had accessing Taft Corner shopping....
and the local paper here reports a planned community where, shades of Australia, faciilities will be so grouped that citizens can utilize basic commercial facilities without the need for a car..
Actually, Yanks, you'd be surprised how much more folks will buy if they don't have to carry the shopping bag five miles home without sidewalks!!

Now David is younger than either of my sons, but he has two sisters and knows all about female needs and habits, so he found an American KMart for me, and waited patiently while I worked out sizes and tried things on... and I came away with lots of marked-down shorts and TShirts..
..which I had to take back because they were too big....apparently SOMETHING is getting smaller in America!!
But all attempts to find a lipstick sealer, without which I can live but not drink coffee or kiss, were doomed to failure, the Great American Dream system of the pharmacy in the supermarket breeding Checkout Chicks but not badged trained Cosmetic Advisers...
And when I DID walk to Phipps Plaza, and consulted several cosmetic advisers, they, too, professed a total ignorance of anything used to seal lipstick..
(though I DID find out there is an Australian wine-tasting at the winebar there on Wednesday....)
And, strangest of all to an Australian, in this land of Equal Opportunity, they have MEN working as cosmetic advisers...especially at some of the exclusive agency counters..l!!
And, at a rough guess, the black/white ratio of workers in the shops, especially at the checkouts is around six to one..

And it is seriously warm here, though the sky is still not as blue as in Australia,being kept paler, we decided, by the higher humidity..and everything is green, green, green, and lush and overgrown...
And we have driven a really long way, around and around, and I have seen so much, but, even though Dave drives that big hulk with one hand on the wheel, just like Luc does, and the cars are all on the wrong side of the road, just as in Belgium,... folks, after Belgium roads, I don't think I will EVER be afraid in a car again!
And David's seatbelt waits politely for me to fasten it...it does not presumpt my efforts and threaten to decapitate me, as Rudco's belt was wont to do....something I NEVER did get used to!!
And Dave's car is so old that even if he could afford to regas the air conditioning system, he probably couldn't find anyone who knows how to do it, so even though we didn't FEEL uncomfortably hot, when we came back to the hotel after a GREAT American pizza ( even the PIZZA slices are bigger in America), and my first American beer, we found our keycards must have been heated enough to have lost their magnetic charge, and the room was locking us out so that we had to have new ones made....
and the nice Night Manager went all giggly about my..... cute accent which immediately made me feel like a foreigner again...
And then, when I saw what the grocery buying service had left in my 'frig, I felt even more displaced...
I mean, no gin, Evian water for Tonic Water..and a 1 GALLON bottle of milk..for FIVE DAYS??
I have never even SEEN a one gallon container of milk before!!
And for 8 small washed new potatoes, read, 6 huge saratogas wearing half the farmyard!
And it turns out all Dave's family's cats are lactose-intolerant, which means I have had to learn to drink skim milk as a thirst-quencher..and, you know what? American skim milk tastes GREAT!
In fact, I felt very American with my cookies and milk at bedtime!!
Or, rather, milk and part of cookie.....EVERYTHING is bigger in America!!

And to those of you still asking, 'Are you still coming home early?', the answer is
'Probably not'..
Because Dave took me to his parents' house for a Fourth of July party,and it turns out they know Stan Mislow, who used to have Stan's Space' on this site, and Stan is one person I tried hard to contact before I left Australia.....
And I haven't scheduled my time after here so severely that changes can't be made, and I seem to be thriving on the warmer weather , and the hotel is giving me holiday rates, and they have this grocery shopping service, which is good for entertainment at least, and a shuttle that will take you into town, even to Macy's which Dave's car refuses to park anywhere near.. and, well, I'm kind of liking this place enough that I might just have to stay longer in Atlanta, or a similar latitude,and maybe even cut my time in California....
Unless someone there, or elsewhere, can convince me otherwise, of course.....

Love to everyone over 50,and everyone on our side! -from ..Robink in U.S.A.

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�Robin Knight, 1998.