The Open Road

It suddenly dawned on me just now that I hadn't shared a very important piece of news on this blog! I mentioned it on my 101 Things in 1001 Days blog earlier this week, but it's too cool a piece of news to keep to just one blog: next summer, me and my friend David will be going on a road trip across America!

As it says over on that post, details are coming together, mainly because David works abroad and it's easier to have discussions now while he is here rather than at other times in the next ten months while. We have a basic itinerary together; the broad strokes of the route we have planned is "New York, Washington, Nashville, Memphis, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco" but there's time for this to change. I've insisted on Denver because I have a friend in Fort Collins; David has insisted on Memphis because he wants to go to Graceland.

We've both insisted on Las Vegas: neither of us really gamble, but we have heard from too many friends who have been there before that it is just a great place to visit.

We're very open to suggestions of destinations along that route, and if anyone has suggestions or advice on good/cheap motel chains to stay in then we'd be very happy to hear from you!

More on this in the coming months...

Cutlery Customs

I'm not actually sure if I've mentioned it on the blog before, but one of my plans post-PhD is to spend a good few months travelling around the US. I've never been to America before, and there are just so many places that I would love to go, cities, wilderness, national parks, mountains, glaciers... At the moment I'm reading (well, skimming certain parts - like I really need to know right now what the best B&B in the Hamptons is) through the Lonely Planet USA guide, which weighs in at over 1200 pages just to try and get some more concrete ideas of things that I might want to do and get an idea of distances.

I came across something in the cuisine and eating section though which made me stop and re-read it just to make sure that I had read it right. The following was in a separate piece on cutlery etiquette:

"The method for holding cutlery seems extremely complicated at first: hold your fork in your right hand, and rest your left hand in your lap. When you need to use a knife, switch your fork to your left hand and cut with your right. Or just eat European-style - it won't be considered rude unless you rest your left hand on the table."

The idea of switching knife and fork seemed a little weird - everyone I know or have ever met seems to hold on to both at the same time - is that European-style? I don't know, it never occured to me that there was a "style" about how you use your cutlery.

The big question from me to you, dear American readers, is to ask why it would be rude if I rested my left hand on the table? Thinking about it, it doesn't feel like it would be a comfortable position, but then I wouldn't normally think about resting it in my lap whilst eating either, so what do I know?

Any illumination on the subject would be appreciated! More on my possible travel plans as time moves on and I have a clearer idea of when I'll actually be finished with my PhD. This weekend I'm planning to correct two of my chapters, and forge ahead with another one - but first I have to do my six hour marathon of marking this evening...