It's rubbing it in to tell you I'm travelling to a conference, taking a slow route through North America, while New Zealand "enjoys" winter. As a consolation, Houston and New Orleans have been marked by thunder and lightning and sudden tropical downpours.
Galveston, though... a little humid, but otherwise delightful. In Galveston, we experienced our first Southern Hospitality, "Social Hour" at our bed and breakfast. "Fancy a complimentary Old Fashioned?" "Yes, indeedy," says I. And it was good. Social hour ran quite a bit longer than an hour, and there was another Old Fashioned, too. Over two evenings we offset about two-thirds of our lodging cost in cocktails.
It also wasn't the only complimentary beverage. At the first Galveston store we walked into, we were offered a free wine or beer. We're not in Aotearoa any more, clearly. "Um, could we have a water please?" my wife asked, and a couple of bottles of water materialised. We browsed a bit to make it clear we weren't just there for the water, and bought a humorous dish cloth.
Denne historien er fra July 6-12 2024-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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Denne historien er fra July 6-12 2024-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
A hint of mermaids
Erin Palmisano's latest novel once again has food and romance at the heart of its well-plotted story.
Execution over innovation
Big and bold ideas are fine, but being the best beats being first.
Something's wrong with all of them
Engaging dissection of the 20th-century novel likely to send the reader in search for the book under discussion.
Cell warfare
A NZ trial using immunotherapy to beat a form of blood cancer is expanding after promising results – and it's hoped the 'gold standard' treatment will soon be widely available.
The virus that stole all the smells
In this edited extract from The Forgotten Sense, Jonas Olofsson traces the rise in anosmia as a result of Covid-19 infections.
When caring is ‘woke'
Some years ago, I sat in a small plane circling over Punta del Este in Uruguay. There was a delay and we sat in tense silence until we began our descent. Outside the tiny airport, a taxi ferried us past private Lear jets; these had been the cause of the hold-up. The driver pointed to two planes side by side. \"This one is a Trump plane.\"
Getting along swimmingly
The presenters of Endangered Species Aotearoa spend a fair bit of time on and in the water in the second season.
That clingy feeling
Our pets display the same types of attachment behaviours as we do, or so it seems.
The famous furred
A peaceful little spot in LA is the final resting place for the pets of some of Hollywood's biggest names.
Gone girl
She wandered in on Thursday morning looking very wan, and climbed into her bed. I sat on the edge and stroked her back.
