Cary, North Carolina

America smells. Not a bad smell and not a good smell, just a smell. Difficult to pinpoint but I would say a mixture between pine trees and soap.

Anyway, I have to say I really like America. It would be even better if the roads and traffic were less. Everywhere looks surgically clean. Tarmac is laid which is completely black, unlike our roads in the UK that seem to fade to a ight grey after a short time. There is absolutely no litter anywhere, everything is big, the government seem to go out of their way to make life as easy as possible for the citizens. That is with wide roads, low fuel prices, plenty of parking spaces, well kept park areas. Trouble is that nature is spoilt in an attempt to "pretty" places up rather than just leaving it.

While I was there I walked around a small lake which was difficult to tell whether it was natural or not. It was a pleasant 15-minute stroll. There was an immaculate tarmac path all the way round, I couldn't help thinking that in the UK at best this would be gravel and more natural.

One of the lakes in Cary

This is an affluent area, the "Research Triangle" which encompasses Raleigh, Durham and Cary. Twelve years ago the population of Cary was 8,000, now it's nearer 90,000. There is frenzied building everywhere.

Shopping, everything is in plentiful supply and cheap. Levi's $40! Loads of junk food outlets, I suppose the same as shopping malls in the UK. Funnily enough, I didn't find any shops selling CD's. Nor fruit & veg shops.

The population are wonderful. Everybody I met was courteous, friendly but incredibly lazy. Hence very few sidewalks, everybody drives, even if the journey is only a few metres. I saw some people drive from the hotel to our training school which, if you took the path was less than 300 metres away.

What else did I see that was unusual? Grass is cut long, drive in atm's (cashpoints)!! Golf courses just about everywhere, golf is BIG in America. Cooling fans over putting greens on the golf courses to keep the poor little darlings cool. Houses look very nice but certainly flimsy. I was also surprised to see quite a large number of cyclists on Sunday, this area is very flat so I guess that helps.

A few dislikes: Breakfast with the tv on . My hotel had a lounge area where breakfast was taken and you could not escape the confounded tv. Disposable plates, knives, forks etc. The daily waste generated by each person is of epidemic proportions. It frightens me to think of one Americans daily waste and multiply it by 160 million people - and I am careful what I use!

So that's it, Roger in America 2006. I love the climate here!