...and I'll get on with it now.

Chapter One: Sacramento
Dude, what the hell is that thing over there? --Socrates

In the interests of experimentation, I'll brave new boundaries of writing and put this chapter in the second person.

You're driving along Sacramento, having passed the line that said "Welcome to Sacramento, elevation something big" hundreds of miles ago. You're not quite sure what the fascination is with elevation, or even at what point they measure it. Maryam is seated in front of you, and she thinks it's City Hall. You're inclined to agree, because it seems more likely than McDonalds.

You pass a sign pointing the direction to J Street. Odd. J Street is a very boring name. Maybe it's an abbreviation, you think. You're wrong. P Street looms, quickly followed by Q. A little later you pass X.

You make a note to talk about it in a Forum post, but don't quite realise that you haven't got anything to talk about. When writing it up a few hours later, you reach the end and realise that it's just a formless blob of cultural difference (which you typoed cidderence) which won't raise much of an eyebrow. Fortunately, there was another person in the car who gave you material for the second chapter.

Chapter Two: Civilisation
Give us the secret of Gunpowder or we will crush you. --A friend of mine, to his chemistry teacher

"You know on your little island, do you have hospitals?"
"Do you have modern medicine too?"
"Do you get bands? You know, like music?"

Short chapter. Long car ride.

Chapter Three: Dictatorship behind the Wheel
AIEEE~! ...BOOM --Maryam

More cultural differences. I've noticed that Americans tend to issue directions as orders, while normal people give them as information. Example,

"Go to the traffic lights and turn left, then it's the second right and it's on the right." - British
"You go to the traffic lights and turn left, then you take the second right and it's on the right." - New Zealanderish (ta, BG)
"You're going to go up the the stop sign and make a left, then you're going to take the second right and you're going to stop on the right." - American

It strikes me as odd. BG suggested that it might actually be really friendly, as if reinforcing the inherent correctness of the driver, who really knows which way to go and is just relying on you to positively assert their decisions. But hey, it's a cultural difference, and that's what all of my posts are about.

Tune in next week, same bat-time, same bat-URL, for more exciting adventures with

Matthew