Eggs and sausage and a side of toast, coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy, chile in a bowl with burgers and fries (Tom Waits)

Breakfast in America: Rae's Diner, Santa Monica, Saturday Jan 9, 2023

Wie geht's?

As we've been travelling around over the last four weeks I've noticed some stark differences between countries.

We started off our adventures in Dubai - things were pretty much as they were the last time we were here, ten years ago, while we were living in Al Ain. Adjectives like flashy, superficial, and bubble still apply - maybe even more so. This time the prices were an eye opener - it's no longer a place to get a bargain compared with home.

I bought some books from my favourite bookshop in the Dubai Mall and they were about the same price I'd expect to pay in Nu Zild (if I could find them). For instance, a hardback copy of Steven Wilson's 'Limited Edition Of One' cost 150 dirham - about $64.

From there we headed to the UK.

Basically, Britain is broken. 

Christmas holidays are a prime time for industrial action in England. This time around: nurses strike action, ambulance worker strikes, border staff strikes, massive train disruptions because of strikes, service industry shortages, breakdown assistance strikes meant lengthy delays on arterial routes. Infrastructure is limping along in Britain. It was a bit sad to see. 

Luckily, we didn't book any train journeys, if we had done, we'd still be trying to get out of London. Instead, we hired a car and toured around places we'd not been before. That proved a good move in the circumstances (Tintagel Castle and visiting my family in Bury were absolute highlights) but each journey time expanded with unforeseen circumstances - break downs unattended or too many cars on narrow roads because of the rail disruption. So a 3 hour trip became a 4 or 5 hour struggle to get where we were going.

Having said that, as I remarked to Jacky as we enjoyed lunch in Oxford Street's Marks And Spencer's. we just fit in here!

After Christmas, we headed to California. Santa Monica to be precise.

In stark contrast, the more laid back, friendly, warm Cali-vibe was again a factor. In fact, apart from a moody poe-faced receptionist at The Madonna Inn (San Luis Obispo), we found the people we came across on our travels to be more personable, friendly and helpful than we find in similar Nu Zild contexts. 

'You got it', became a familiar response in America.

The tipping culture is a huge adjustment for me, but apart from that our stay was made extremely pleasurable thanks to all the various burgers, pancakes and donuts I consumed (the Big Sur Roadhouse for donuts and the San Luis Obispo IHOP for pancakes were my favs).  

Given all those exotic foods, mysteriously, I managed to return to NZ the same weight as when I left.  

To summarise - three countries that are vastly different in feel and approach: UAE - all fur coat no knickers; Britain - home and broken; California - a cool world apart.

Love and peace - Wozza