After 2 months in the US, it has been a rollercoaster of amazing experiences both in music making, friendship building and learning how to live with each other in an intense environment for a long time. I found that we can learn lots from different cultures we visit and take back things with us to share to make our lives more enjoyable. I also think there are some things that we can bring to new places and share our experiences and ideas to make things better. Here’s a few things that I wanted to write about.
To give:
America, we bring you (cue drum roll), the ‘Give Way sign’…
Having driven around California for 2 months one thing that occurred to me was the amount of time wasted waiting at stop signs. For those of you have never encountered a stop sign, the general principle is that you see one and you stop, no matter what the circumstances.
Now at first impression not knowing anything about the laws of the road the stop principle seemed strange. We’d arrive at a crossraod/junction, and find that every entrance had a stop sign. So everyone from all angles stop….what happens next? Well at first glance it just seemed like everyone just looked at each other until it was just so awkward it felt like one car would just spontaneously combust. Fortunately, in most situations just before that point arrived someone would venture across the road and everyone would breathe a sigh of relief. I later found out that it was on a first come first served basis which made more sense but still didn’t leave me hungry for more.
So what’s the problem? well stop signs pop up all the time, I mean ALL the time, whether you’re in a highly populated area, or in just the company of fields and cows. Of course we at camp Two Spot Gobi are in favour of road safety but I honestly think we may have been able to record another 3 albums this trip with the amount of time spent in the company of these signs.
So, a suggestion..”give way” – the idea being that the more major road has right of way. If both roads are as important as each other then we have roundabout – circle in the middle of the road which you drive around and give way to the right/ or perhaps the left if it were a left hand drive vehicle (we can deal with the logistics later). I think that these simple steps were introduced it would increase productivity to the extent that the recession might end.
To take:
It was a Tuesday morning and I was taking our good friend and soul mate Natalie along the 5 highway for the 50 minute drive to San Diego airport. I dropped her off in good time as she embarked on her journey to the East coast. I started back along the highway for maybe 10 minutes before the familiar chime of the low petrol/gas light sounded and I found a gas/petrol station...
As I pulled in and reached for my wallet, I found an uncomfortable space where my wallet lay the day before before I’d taken it out and left it on the kitchen table. “Uh oh” . So in the middle of nowhere in California at 4am I stood without any money, and with no one to call. As the truck didn’t belong to me I had no break down service either.
So having scrambled around the car I manage to find 2 dollars in quarters…barely enough to get to the next junction. I found myself in a situation that I’d never encountered and thought “what next?”. The only thing for it was to reach out to other people filling up their cars around me and hope for the best. What came next surprised me.
Within 10 minutes I had raised fifteen dollars from people who saw it as nothing to give 2-3 bucks to a random English guy in a petrol/gas station. I was pretty amazed at how kind people were and as I drove off I vowed to visit every petrol station in the US and raise enough money to buy a nice house…..haha!
We love the US, It’s been a ball, when it’s finished, we can’t wait to share the album, it’s the best stuff we’ve ever written and played…here’s a taste: