Monday, October 6, 2014

Smile, New England

Originally Posted October 13, 2004 by Mags


The reaction of New Englanders to us has been quite different from the inhabitants of other states. They don’t give a flying flip. Here’s an example. We stopped at a small country store in Orwell, Vermont to buy a phone card and use a payphone. While we sat on the bench in front of the store about 50 people walked by us. Since it was a Friday night everyone was buying beer or renting videos. Not only did no one say hello, no one even made eye contact with us. It was as if they already knew too much about us and wished they didn’t know anything. At a restaurant full of leaf peepers near Haven, Vermont we got the stare down from a guy sitting near us. Apparently our lycra shorts and bright yellow tops were too jarring compared with the mute colored L.L. Bean clad tourists around us. My ire was up so I stared back until he looked away. The friendliest person we met in Vermont was a guy near Woodstock who said, “I bet you’ve gone a lot of miles today” and then walked off before we could respond. This ain’t the Midwest. The leaves are amazing though- the trees are bright like pieces of construction paper- yellow, orange and red- and I saw one maple with yellow leaves that looked like they’d been tie-dyed in red paint. 

Posted by Mags at 02:01 PM | Comments (2)
 
 
 
 
Original Comments: Smile, New England
 
that is totally in keeping with my new england experiences -- maybe they would be more interested if you were on a pair of segway's instead: http://www.10mph.com/

Posted by benson at October 14, 2004 07:13 PM
 
 
Hi Kids,

With hardwoods as thick as hair on a dog's back that great land is unbelievably gorgeous. But my first hand knowledge kind of thins further east than Pennsylvania. I've been to New York City several times and Palmyra but other than conference attendees and relatives not much interaction with people. Maybe I take that back because of my experience with your brother Aaron when we went shopping for diamonds in down town NY and Aaron conducted a study to see whether a young person go a worse or better deal than an old person. After being taken into a back, only slightly lighted room to talk to "Frankie" in one diamond store I decided the experiment was beyond my comfort zone. They did talk to me but with a real funny accent with eye contact from under the green visor shades. So I'm not sure if I can relate well to your experience of not being greeted and welcomed by those new easterners. Maybe they think you politicing and they are all politiced out. The photos are really welcomed and do a great job of enhancing your narratives. We look forward to the photo of your front bike wheel in the Atlantic Ocean which probably you've already done.

Love, Dad Carl

Posted by Carl Harris at October 15, 2004 02:12 PM
 

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