Friday 17 April 2009

How times change....

Just popping in for a few seconds to say hello - I'll reply to comments when I'm back :)

I remember being in some godforsaken part of Arizona around my 15th birthday when I first bought an American newspaper.

It seemed a fair thing to do, seeing as Saddam had just invaded Kuwait and it was undecided if he was going to continue on into Saudi Arabia. We were just heading into a diner for breakfast (possibly even a Wendy's) and saw the headline of the NY Times as we passed the newsstand. Obviously this was news to us so we bought and read it over my first serious cultural mistake (bacon is not bacon, eggs are not eggs and toast was not toast - making my bacon and egg sarnie a herculean effort requiring diamond teeth and a strong stomach).

I was reminded of this today as I passed a newsstand on the way to saying hello to Mrs. Red Squirrel (who is at work today) and saw the headline of the NY Times. It was something about pirates off the coast of Somalia (or rather, that the first american captured had reached Mombasa - but I digress). Did I buy it? No. I'd been following the story daily on the internet for the last 5 months, I'd received texts about the american hijacking and rescue and I'd been forced (at the airport while waiting for one of three immigration officials to process 75,000 people in the queue - people wanting into the country? At an airport? Who'd'a'thunkit?) to listen to interviews with the distant cousins of the bosun on the ship on CNN.

How times change.....

3 comments:

Roshni said...

tell me about it! As I said in my latest post, we researched medical conditions and disease symptoms using the internet instead of going to a library and poring over medical journals!

Anonymous said...

I buy a paper for coupons and comics.

OH...and the dumb ass stuff they print from our police log.

I'm happy you're with us in America (even if only for a few days!)

Happy Day Little Squirrel!
:)
And Love to Mrs. Squirrel too...She Rocks!

Red Squirrel said...

Roshni - it's a good point. We are all slaves to Google....

Sweet Cheeks - your local paper is great though, roaming pigs and mattresses et al. :)