Another cultural thing – in America it must be against the consitution to drink water without ice in it. Which means it is too bloody cold to drink.

Now this might possibly be because the water tastes horrible. It might just be a case of getting used to it. I’ll let you know if I do.

The other night I was talking to some folk in a bar and they were talking about Easy Cheese in a can. I thought they were winding me up BUT IT’S TRUE. You can buy aerosol cheese here. Oh the horror.

You know the “subprime” issue you hear so much about in the news – well that’s me. I have ZERO credit here. My UK (excellent) credit history means nothing here. I was even turned down for a JCPenney Store card. Oh the shame.

I’m struggling a bit with the supermarkets here. Firstly because on the whole you can’t buy ingredients – you can just buy ready made things with added lard and sugar. Secondly because everything comes in HUGE quantities – I mean why would I want to buy 12 eggs at a time? Lastly because the logic of the supermarket layout isn’t the same as the logic of UK supermarkets.

Why is that important? Well because I hate supermarkets and usually run in, get what I need, then run out. I can’t do that here because stuff isn’t where you’d expect. For example the other day I was looking for blue cheese. I didn’t find it along the whole wall of the store marked “Cheese is good” which more accurately should have been “Cheese wrapped in plastic/ Plastic Cheese”. I didn’t find it in the deli section which only had rectangular cheese. I finally found it in the “exotic mostly foreign cheeses” section hidden behind the fruit and veg.

Same with rice. Every sort of rice known to man, except for the Arborio I was looking for was in the same area…..postponing any risotto making for at least a fortnight.

It’s a slippery slope. First you start talking about sidewalks and SUVs, next thing you know you are not speaking English at all.

So I think it has started – now when I go to Starbucks I order a medium skimmed milk latte with vanilla and an extra shot of coffee. Once I start asking for a triple skinny grande vanilla latte then I think we’ve really got problems. Would you tell me if I do?