Final Nights in the Land of The Fonz
I am sitting in the lobby of my decidedly average hotel with a couple of hours to kill, so I thought I would get blogging.
Two nights ago had one of THOSE nights. That is one of those good nights, not one of those bad nights. The foreigners were invited out by the local work crew for dinner and drinks. And what a great spot was chosen - very authentic hispanic food and atmosphere in the hispanic quarter of town. Eating outside ... fabulous night weather ... good company ... really good night.
One of the local crew told one of the waiters it was my birthday and a rousing rendition was sung by the wait staff. Of course, I am an Aquarian so my birthday was some months ago. Still, who am I to argue with the locals. I received the song - and the free piece of cake - with typical aplomb.
Then the thing happened that I had a feeling throughout this trip might happen: accent borne celebrity.
In the film 'Love, actually' some dorky Pom heads to the US with a suitcase full of condoms certain that his accent would woo yanky women to his bedroom. A guy I work with in the UK believes this, though I do not believe his ability would match his ambition. As a further aside, there is an Expedia ad here feauring a guy in nothing but a towel and an Australian accent, wooing an American on holidays.
Anyway, after the birthday cuffuffle (spelling suggestions encouraged), someone on the next table took notice of my bellowing voice. The next thing I know a waiter comes over to me, serves me a Corona - which is what I was drinking at the time - and tells me that it is from the lady at (points) that table. Surely this only happens in movies and, then, only to women. So I am quite chuffed. So I went over to the table of four women (a 6.5, 5.5 and two 2.5s ... let me know if I need to go into the scoring system) to thank the individual in question for the drink - it would be rude to do otherwise. I have about a 5 minute chat and head back to my table. The drinks buying table were being very nice, if a little obvious (well ... they're only human!). One of the girls from our work table then befriends the bepoke drink-buying girls and invites them over to our table.
Now ... the next bit is tough to explain seeing as I am particular about what I publish to the web. Those who know me know that I can get down and dirty - in a verbal and conceptual manner, I must say ... certainly not in anyway that I could not tell Mel - with the best of them. And the girls from the drink buying table started off by setting the bar very low. So here's me, doing my thing, trying to shock these girls into submission by - verbally and conceptually - lowering the bar as far as I can without getting slapped or arrested. I must say I was defeated. I could not bring up a topic or concept that offended these girls in the slightest. Indeed, the candour of their reponse was a little shocking to me. I cannot elaborate on any of this on the web, but feel free to ask me about next time we might speak. It had to happen some day, but I did not realise it would happen some completely.
The drink buying table invited us to a bar they were going to next. But like a good boy I said my farewells, had a couple more Coronas, and was in bed my about 11:45pm in prepration for the next days work.
So now I am sitting here, killing time. I have some thoughts on this US trip, but won't elaberate them until I get home to the UK. Afterall, I still have to go to the airport and if my ingress experience was anything to go by, I am not looking forward to the process of egress ...
Two nights ago had one of THOSE nights. That is one of those good nights, not one of those bad nights. The foreigners were invited out by the local work crew for dinner and drinks. And what a great spot was chosen - very authentic hispanic food and atmosphere in the hispanic quarter of town. Eating outside ... fabulous night weather ... good company ... really good night.
One of the local crew told one of the waiters it was my birthday and a rousing rendition was sung by the wait staff. Of course, I am an Aquarian so my birthday was some months ago. Still, who am I to argue with the locals. I received the song - and the free piece of cake - with typical aplomb.
Then the thing happened that I had a feeling throughout this trip might happen: accent borne celebrity.
In the film 'Love, actually' some dorky Pom heads to the US with a suitcase full of condoms certain that his accent would woo yanky women to his bedroom. A guy I work with in the UK believes this, though I do not believe his ability would match his ambition. As a further aside, there is an Expedia ad here feauring a guy in nothing but a towel and an Australian accent, wooing an American on holidays.
Anyway, after the birthday cuffuffle (spelling suggestions encouraged), someone on the next table took notice of my bellowing voice. The next thing I know a waiter comes over to me, serves me a Corona - which is what I was drinking at the time - and tells me that it is from the lady at (points) that table. Surely this only happens in movies and, then, only to women. So I am quite chuffed. So I went over to the table of four women (a 6.5, 5.5 and two 2.5s ... let me know if I need to go into the scoring system) to thank the individual in question for the drink - it would be rude to do otherwise. I have about a 5 minute chat and head back to my table. The drinks buying table were being very nice, if a little obvious (well ... they're only human!). One of the girls from our work table then befriends the bepoke drink-buying girls and invites them over to our table.
Now ... the next bit is tough to explain seeing as I am particular about what I publish to the web. Those who know me know that I can get down and dirty - in a verbal and conceptual manner, I must say ... certainly not in anyway that I could not tell Mel - with the best of them. And the girls from the drink buying table started off by setting the bar very low. So here's me, doing my thing, trying to shock these girls into submission by - verbally and conceptually - lowering the bar as far as I can without getting slapped or arrested. I must say I was defeated. I could not bring up a topic or concept that offended these girls in the slightest. Indeed, the candour of their reponse was a little shocking to me. I cannot elaborate on any of this on the web, but feel free to ask me about next time we might speak. It had to happen some day, but I did not realise it would happen some completely.
The drink buying table invited us to a bar they were going to next. But like a good boy I said my farewells, had a couple more Coronas, and was in bed my about 11:45pm in prepration for the next days work.
So now I am sitting here, killing time. I have some thoughts on this US trip, but won't elaberate them until I get home to the UK. Afterall, I still have to go to the airport and if my ingress experience was anything to go by, I am not looking forward to the process of egress ...
posted by bloggerpaul at
11:54 AM
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