On my various visits to America, I discovered how friendly everyone is, no matter whether they are neighbours or shop assistants, everyone is so willing to help and to please, this is so obvious with John and Connie's friend's, if it is a card night, or a bar-b-q, or whatever, I was always included
Some of the ways of doing things in America are different, naturally, driving in the supermarket car park for example, pedestrians are god, they walk out from the store, look in neither direction, just walk straight out at a leisurely pace, a concrete wall rises on both sides of them keeping them safe.
At traffic lights, if, as a driver you get a green to turn, a pedestrian walks out, you just stop and let them saunter across, if more follow, you just sit there quietly. Horn blowing is very rare, and road rage I have not seen. I just hope when an American comes over here he or she knows what to expect, they
will be eaten alive.
You see another difference in the supermarket check out lines, unlike here where you try and get out as quickly as possible, there it is a time to socialise, the assistant will pack for you, if you want cigarettes, they will go over to the kiosk to get them for you, then come back to finish the chat.
Buying gas at the gas station, you can either pay at the pump using a credit card or go inside and pay before pumping, obviously they have had their fingers burned in the past.
Mail deliveries, house doors do not have letter boxes, instead they have communal boxes on the sidewalk, one box will be for probably a dozen houses, the delivery man opens the back of the box and inserts everyone's mail in their own shelf, at the same time, he lifts out any mail that has been posted in the same box, I think an excellent idea, no bitten fingers, no perforated mail, and no mail sticking out of a letter box announcing you are not at home.
Recycling is big in California, (I don't know what it is like in other states) each house has three wheelie bins, a green one for garden rubbish, a black one for household rubbish, and a grey one for re-cycle able items.
Another difference is noise pollution, it seems like every other male has a "Harley Davidson" motor bike, there does not appear to be any law requiring silencing of the machines, they sit beside you at the lights and constantly rev them up, the only reason I can see for doing this is they like the noise.
My final observation is total lack of road sense, driving in the outside lane of a three lane road, knowing they are going to turn off into a shopping mall in fifty yards, do they get into the correct lane in advance, no, they just suddenly turn in sharply across all three lanes, much swerving and braking, but no horn blowing.
Driving along the interstate cars weave in and out the lanes non- stop, ok, it is allowed to overtake on either side, but not to weave about like dodgems, no wonder so many cars have dents and scratches, but I still enjoy driving among them, I can match them
As mentioned elsewhere, driving in America tends to be different in many ways.
Driving on an interstate you will have anything from two to six or even seven lanes, you will have a speed limit of around 70 to 75 but the traffic is moving at 85 to 90, if you stay with the traffic and look in your rear view mirror and see a black and white behind you, don’t worry, as long as the traffic is running smoothly they will not bother you.
On an interstate, overtaking is allowed on either side, once used to this I find it a good idea, no more all bunched up on the outside lane waiting to pass, there is no outside lane.Road signs on interstates are good, you are always informed in plenty of time where the next turn off is going, you are also informed what brand of gas will be at the next turn off and which food chain is there also.
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