A Temporary Lapse in Opinion

So Sunday night, another spent away in a Cambridge Hotel, what to amuse myself? The Bar of course! 'The Malt'y Man is Cometh' :-)

Although a somewhat limited selection of 'Good Stuff' is available, just the usual 'Run of the Mill' offerings marketed toward foreign guests that might recognise the labels [Glenfiddich FFS... I wouldn't cook with it...], but what the hell, in the absence of Laphroig or Highland Park, I'll settled for a Glenmorangie under duress ;-).

OK so there I am with me wee dram, pondering the 'Pros and Cons' of having a digital camera for Christmas, which obviously I conclude is an exercise in cash evaporation and futility. [Hey, the old photographers phrase 'Be There and F5.6', what's the point in 'Being There' if you can't select F5.6! OK I admit, a descent digital SLR might be an option as a direct replacement for my existing EOS, but the equivalent EOS D5 comes in at 2k Sterling!. Oh, and I'm hardly likely to be tucking that into a belt pouch all day with my lens waiting for moments of clarity am I! [Sorry I'm sounding like a snob, but anything less than 12MP just doesn't deliver the picture quality that film can!]

Umm... where was I ? OH at the Bar... Right...

So this large group of Americans arrive. Obviously with outstretched arms I greet my brothers from across the pond, well actually they wanted my advice on which 'Ale' to try? Their powers of observation had obviously concluded that I was a life long member of 'CAMRA'! [I can only assume they selected me because I was sporting six days of stubble and not even the fact I was holding a whisky tumbler could dissuade them :-/ ] 'Ale'... Ummm... Surely 'Yorkshire Bitter' counts as 'Ale' ;-) Hey, I could have been really nasty and recommended 'Newcastle Brown'! [Anyway, why were't they drinking 'BUD' FFS, they force us to, the least they could do is drink their own medicine!]

Then they descended on mass to the seats next to me to discuss their 'Project Plan' for tomorrows meeting with a potential customer. I won't bore you with the details but to say it was a great illustration of ineptitude would be no understatement [When you have to look up on the Net whether 'Diesel' energy counts as a renewable source of energy or not, you know we're not dealing with eminent Nasa scientist here! I felt so sorry for their boss back home, the cost of getting eight company representatives over to Limey, board, lodgings and their Bar Tab must have been massive, and realistically unless the competition was from 'Teletubby Inc.', they where not getting the contract!]

Anyway, after numerous conference calls, faxes etc. they concluded their business and attempted to relax [By relax I mean drink more 'Ale' and get louder]. It didn't take long for them to invite my conjunctions into their small talk [I can't think of any reasons other than they liked my quaint 'Posh' accent and the fact I was laughing at them quite openly by now... that's the whisky effect!]. We gossiped a while about beer, the 'Fitness' of the blonde Hungarian bar maid and Cambridge City Traffic 'Problems', before someone made a giant leap onto current affairs and Iraq! [No not me, Jesus No, I was far to pissed to get into any form of verbal sparing!]

As you would expect Xenophobia was rife, 'Oil', what had oil got to do with it? and 'Empire Building', No don't be silly...

OK, Preparation required and quickly; stop drinking, force clearing of my head, eat some peanuts, get ready for the scrap, eight on one, easy :-) I am awful when I'm tipsy, quite capable of arguing Black is White if forced to [Well it is! No? Sorry, it could be. It's purely a name given to a variable based on a human conception used to define our surroundings, that's all, it's not a 'fact' ;-)]

OK seconds out round one... Fcuk ! Someone's beat me to it! Championing the cause of all the 'Non American' world for me! And he's one of them! They've got a mole in their own ranks!

And this guy was good, so so fcuking good... Extremely knowledgeable on current politics, the regional history of the Middle East, the whole shooting match... I was dumb founded, I just sat there nodding support whilst every time any of the others tried to preach the 'Company Line' he just blew them out the water, quoting everything from the history of the Ottoman Empire, to statistics on American Oil Reserve forecasts. This guy was the 'Mutts Nutts', I was so glad he was on my side ;-)

Anyway the point of the post, to apologies. That's right, I'm sorry. Sorry for pre-judging and slotting these people into Stereotypes I hold. These were good guys, harmless anyhow. But far more significantly my new 'Friend' had managed to dismiss all my pre-conceptions about Americans and their lack of any understanding of any Foreign Policy. Sorry guys, I stand corrected, someone somewhere in the US, really knows what's going on. :-)

Obviously I later found out it was too good to be true. I establish at breakfast that although the Guy was an American citizen, he was in fact born and bread in the Lebanon. So I'll put this apology down to Glenmorangie and a temporary lapse of opinion on my behalf ;-)

Ciao Ciao
Confused from Chichester

I BLOG There4 I am