Back to the UK and the difference is noticeable and immediate. Where have all the manners gone?
When the plane landed at Terminal 5 Heathrow, the passengers were jostling to get off the plane. No such thing in the USA where passengers would politely wait their turn, deferring to fellow passengers who sit in front of them. In central London today, drivers were cutting in to save that precious 2 seconds, and when they failed to squeeze in, raised a two-finger protest. This happened with a boy racer and a woman driving a Chelsea tractor (i.e. an SUV).
Remembering the gentler times at Kansas, this clock at Leavenworth signified a different kind of time, and perhaps a different kind of world in which people are civil to each other.
People in South East England are so easily stressed out, they will benefit from taking a leaf from the book of the American football fans. Here they were, exiting orderly from the Arrowhead Stadium after the game. Quite remarkable when there were at least sixty thousand spectators exiting the stadium.
In four days' time I will be off to Japan, where manners reign supreme, even at peak hours on the Tokyo underground.
