[Dixielandjazz] Grits

[PLadd36932@aol.com]

<< In a message dated 04/01/03 21:47:33 GMT Standard Time, kash@ran.es writes:
 
 << tasted good Southern grits, >>
 
 Yuck!  The very mention of grits takes me back to my first visit to the 
 States.
 My brother and I went to Canaveral to watch Apollo 17 go and we were 
 determined to savour everything American.
 
 I think our greatest shocks were
 
 Grits. We had no idea what grits were but we definitely did  not expect a 
 mixture of tapioca and wallpaper paste.
 
 Root Beer. This we had expected to be really special and we both, after the 
 first mouthful spat it out. Perhaps this is the American Revenge for warm 
 English beer. Grief! it was awful.
 
 Turf and Surf.  This was unheard of in England at that time amd I remember 
 being appalled that in a world where a large percentage of the population 
 didn`t get a square meal, someone in America was mixing two top foods, and 
 spoiling both in the process. I had not in those days been exposed to waste 
 as the American way of life and just could not understand anyone doing such 
a 
 thing. I still find it pretty hard.
 
 Polystyrene cups.  This blessing to man had not yet reached England. We had 
 plastic cups, but not polystyrene.
 Our first morning we left our motel in Cocoa Beach to get breakfast at 
 something called the Crystal (or  Kristal) 

 The coffee came in polystyrene cups which of course felt mildly warm on the 
 outside. Our first gulp of this scalding hellfire brew nearly took the roofs 
from our 
 mouths and burned our tongues out from the root. It was boiling. It was like 
 having a mouthful of broken glass. Torture!  Of course these days sueing the 
 owners  would be the thing to do but in those days not even the American 
 public had thought of doing that.
 Just as an aside. We went to Disney World. It was very, very good. We went 
to 
 Epcot which had only recently opened. It was was fantastic!. Brilliant!. 
 Superb! Unbelieveable!  The only drawback? They allow children in.
 
 Musical content. The Firehouse Five playing on Main Street. The leader 
tapped 
 in `Running Wild` at an unbelievable tempo. The band belted through it, hit 
 the break at the end and stopped. There was a pregnant pause and a voice 
from 
 the group said `Jesus Christ! What the f****ck got into you? and the band 
 streaked back into the Firehouse and never returned. A great example to the 
little kiddiwinks.
 
 Cheers
 
 PatL
  >>