Having had the pleasure of visiting the windy state of Virginia for the last three weeks i thought i would my muddy and somewhat beersoaked thoughts of the city of Norfolk with the Asylum.
I arrived with all the ingrained misconceptions and firmly intrenched stereotypes of what Americans would be like and boy they did not let me down!! Well sorta...
The Good
I know you guys joke about the poor quality of the food we serve and sometimes it IS justified, but even the best we have to offer doesn't even come close to the sheer value for money eating out ststeside offers. I ate everywhere from McDonalds, Applebee's, the "It's 3am and it's the only fastfood joint left open ropey chicken joint", and a classy joint called "Kincaids" that i am half sure is a chain restaurant but can't believe that a chain place would produce food THAT good. While the service varied the food was always better value than it would have been from a like for like in England.
The people where invariably friendly, often going out of thier way to engage in conversation, total contrast to the French on my last stop.
The sport was easily availible and inexpencive to watch with great atmosphere, i got in 2 baseball games and three Ice hockey, plus i got to watch the draft coverage which was a major bonus! While i did enjoy the baseball i'm not sure why is is such an obsession beyond how easy it would be to set up a game as a kid. That said the Norfolk Admirals now have a travelling support of over 20 british sailors.
The Bad.
I thought that maybe it was just Gbaji and Virus, but damn there are some REALLY stupid people in the states, some of the mindboggling reasoning following the V-tech shooting was frankly insane.
Cars, guys i know it's a culture thing, but does EVERY car HAVE to be a freaking V6? In three weeks i saw 3 hatchbacks, every single other car was a Coupe, Saloon or SUV mostly driven by single drivers probably travelling less than 10 miles to work. I had a converation with a lady complaining that she could only afford one night out a month and then proceeded to tell me, that her V8 SUV was ESSENCIAL to drive her the 100 yards to the store...
The Ugly
Eat less, excersise more, come on it's not difficult.
Overall i really enjoyed my stay, it ranks very highly on my list of great places to visit. Not only that, it restored my faith that America is, (dispite it's commander in chief) a great country.