Posted on March 12, 2008 - by Calvin L. Smith
Englishman in New York (17)
Last entry looked at some of the things I didn’t much like about America. For the sake of balance (although I’ve already said plenty of good things), here are some things about America which for me stand out positively. Here goes…
People who are serious about church. Churchgoing here makes us look positively pagan as a nation back home
Superb selection of Bibles (I mean proper Bibles, not all those silly ones I listed the other day)
All-you-can-eat steak and shrimp (I know, I know, I listed this as a bad thing, but you must understand it is a love-hate relationship between me and these two items of food)
Big airports, lots of people travelling, and the overall energy of an industrious people and their country
Big cars (not the pathetic one I ended up with)
Superb restaurants (which make up for the plethora of fast food outlets)
Genuinely nice, helpful and concerned people (even if many don’t appreciate irony)
Long opening hours for shops
The “I can do it” mentality. In other words, big-mindedness that sees problems as a challenge to be overcome. Of course, the downside is everyone walks around with a permanent smile like a Cheshire cat and an environment most conducive for the rise and propagation of positive confession and prosperity teaching
Just plain, dairy vanilla ice-cream
The many friends and colleagues I have here
Choice (consumer chocie, that is, and definitely not the choice of television… despite dozens of channels it has all seemed to meld into a single amorphous mass. It says something when the BBC’s What’s In Your Attic? or something similar comes on, and you actually half enjoy it 
Cheap petrol (about 42 pence a litre). So for you American readers, that means back in the UK we are paying about $8.50 – 9.00 per US gallon. Yet there is uproar over here because petrol rose by 10 cents over the past month
Very active senior citizens (though I don’t like the bright white and pink plad sportscoats)
Very smartly dressed businessmen (whatever happened to Britain in this respect?)
Their love of all things English, especially the way my English accent makes me a star.
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March 12, 2008
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Calvin, I enjoyed your entries very much. I didn’t really respond because I didn’t know what to say. But it seems that America is a country of extremes, America has some really great things going for it and those values and qualities can make really bad things too. However, I still think if everyone could choose they would live in America. Well, maybe not all, but definitely those in the developing world. I live in South Africa and I would go live in America above all other countries in a minute.
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March 14, 2008
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America is great, Celeste, but also everything the English are not (both good and bad). I feel as a family with English and American connections we have the best of both worlds. You will love it here when you come this Summer (will it be your first visit?).
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March 14, 2008
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Calvin,
I’m sure that you shouldn’t be leading us poor people who are paying nearly £1.20 a litre for diesel to feel such envy
On a serious note though, it is pretty stunning to be paying nearly 300% more over here…
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March 14, 2008
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Maybe not we’ll have to see. I was homeschooled on an American curriculum so maybe I’m indoctrinated. Their sense of freedom has always enticed me but it has also brought some negatives. And, yes if I go this summer it would be my first visit though my father has gone there twice.
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March 15, 2008
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ADDENDUM: My American wife has asked why the list of good things about America is half as long as the bad things