Since we lost BBC World from our cable package (thanks bastard UPC, who knew you could just take off the only decent non-hysterical global news channel and just replace it with Animal Planet, then demand we pay more per month for the channel we used to have?) we watch CNN from time to time. I can only really bear it for a few minutes while making dinner - the fever pitch of everything, the constant obsessive-compulsive "what will this mean for the US" line really bugs me after a while.
Anyway, they are wetting their panties over this latest credit crunch/bank bailout. I get the feeling the Europeans are quite smug, with their diversified economy and their groovy currency steadily climbing against the dollar and the pound.
So it got me wondering whether with the Euro doing so well, the trends of tourism will invert a bit. We think just maybe there are fewer American voices in the street in high season, much more Spanish that ever before. And perhaps the new Euro-entrants like Slovakia will flood on over to the US of A to sneer at their food, be rude to their waiters and talk louder than anyone else in any public tranport or outdoor dining areas. Slovaks, Spaniards, Slovenians, Serbians. Lovely.
1 comment:
We watched a Russian sort-of vampire movie recently - you know, paranormal troopers staving off the ever-threatening march of the underworld kind of stuff. Not the best movie, but so so refreshing to be watching something not made in Hollywood. Those subtle little cultural things - vodka, not beer; rectangular concrete apartment blocks; train stations with Cyrillic names. Even the dubbed voices had Russian accents!
I imagine fewer Aussie backpackers will be making the long flight over the europe, also?
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