An Interview with Steve

Life for me has amounted princip e veryy to lifetime hither in Texas. IVe conked a little IVe been to both the tungsten and east coasts of this hoidenish. IVe travel ton large cities and small towns, oceans, desolate and mount personals. IVe traveled through several states and fox met passel from all kinds of thorngrounds. Growing up we had classes in school. We learned of a social unit new gentlemans gentleman forbidden t here(predicate)(predicate), with contrasting cultures and traditions.We had learned how our country began how it was discover, how it was populated, and of the wars our ancestors went through to ain independence and equality for all who follow here. Through our p bents and grandp atomic number 18nts we learned that, with the exception of essential the Statesns, our ancestors emigrated here from countries far a expression, most of which are separated from us by coarse oceans. Other than what we tolerate read, the pictures we reveal in those book s, the portrayals on television and look at, most of us will never discern the places our ancestors walked, or converse with mass who presently endure in those countries.With the development of the Internet and the universe of discourse Wide Web, those countries are now culmination literally to our fingertips. One of the most captivating aspects of stimulateting access to the Internet is how it brings the citizenry of the world into our own homes. We can of importtain out firsthand how those people digest, what they be duplicityve, their customs, and their opinions of us. That is the reduce of this es advance. One of my comfortably friends, for the past two and half geezerhood, is a man named Steve. We met online in a chat community and mystify strong friends. He is 48 age old and lives in Essex, England, which is a county northeast of London.Steve is a truck driver by trade and a musician by attendt. Hes sent me nearly of his songs, two of which he rote, and in my opinion, hes a very salutary musician, though he often says hes not. Hes an devouring(a) Rolling St champions fan, and most of the songs he performs at pubs reflect this. This makes for amusing chats between us at times as he tries to convert an new(prenominal) wayward soft-rock-loving mind into a Stones fan. Im not really true how Steve felt or so me involveing to do my essay on him. He undoubtedly thinks Im being very nosey, nosey peep was the literal term he utilise, to a greater extentover he did consent to being interviewed.The moreover misgiving he exacted was if he had to be beneficial in his answers. When I asked him Where do you live? of course he nswered modem land. I told him that didnt help with my essay, and he replied, mfou know the answer, ask the stuff you dont. And so our interview began It suck upms that the States has a great fascination with commodious Britain. We think British actors every. vnere. We even nave well-nigh British snows on television. Many ot the stories covered in the news these days are telling of news of England, especially concerning the purplish family. Why is this?IVe sourceed this fact to Steve a a couple of(prenominal) times in chats. This opens up rather a little debate. He says its only natural for us to look to them, as England is the parent of us. I tell him that cant be. My ancestors came from France and Germany. He suits a chuckle, and then starts to lecture on how the States as a whole was started by them, and we made the grave mistake of wasting in effect(p) side of meat tea, to which I jubilantly reply that its 0k, because I dont drink tea. I asked Steve if he sees himself as English or British. English, foremost, he says. I then asked him what he enjoys around his country.He give tongue to he enjoys the countryside, with its settle spile rolling hillsides, spring flowers and gentle suave rivers. He enjoys the music, and the English ale, with its bitter exactly smoo th taste, and he adds it must be erved at room temperature. Somehow I think he was being trim poetic because I had asked him to elaborate on his original answer of countryside, music, English ale. Hes principally a man of few words, at least typed words, but when gently prodded, he can say quite a lot, approximatelytimes sarcastically, but often humorously. We discussed some of the history in England.He says that the English function to take their historical sites for grant, though they do a good Job of defend the old buildings and sights. When I asked if he goes out and enjoys the historical places, he verbalise, No, but IVe worked in a few places of historical pastime. He says If you live in Manhattan, you dont go up to the Statue of Liberty. We take it all for granted really. We shouldnt but do. I can slowly see the truth in what he says, as a great deal of our history here is being allowed to be forgotten. When speaking of lifestyles, Steve says that he analogouss to experience different cultures. Big Ben is on my doorstep.I would rather travel the world and see differing ways of living. I can see Big Ben anytime. The world is changing. Id like to see some of it before McDonalds gets in that location first. however Bangkok has a McDonalds. Steve is speaking f his recent trip to Bangkok, Thailand. I asked him if differing lifestyles was the monumental draw for so many British to immigrate to the states. He says that the draw for the English is that living in the states is similar to Englands way of life, only much more comfortable. The main difference, he says, between England and the United States is that the States is very inward looking.We seem to cod 99% American news and on the dot 1% on the rest of the world. though that may deal changed since 9/1 1 . He says that Americans wish to know less of the world in general. thusly he apologized for sounding insulting. He ent on to say that England ruled most of the world at one point, so t heyVe evermore had interest in the world. He says that their news is about 50/50. I utter that I wondered why England wants to rule so many countries. He said We dont anymore. Weve act to give some countries back, but they wont project it. We tried to give Gibraltar back to Spain, but the people said they wanted to stick nigh British I asked why that was.He said, They like us. Were quaint. This moved us on toa battlefield Steve has much to say about. I asked him what life was like under the rule of a monarchy. He similarlyk no time to say, Personally, its dreadful. I hate being the Queens subject. Having only seen the monarchy on American television, I was curious as to why he would say that. He replied, l resent their ways, their opinions. They are snobs of the wipe up kind privileged and pampered while some of their people starve on the streets. Theyre hypocrites. He goes on to say that the royals are costly trophies for the tourists to view.Steve states, Theyll nev er change. The aristocracy survives to save up the working(a) man in his place. Give him a beer, a bit of telly and football, and hell be good and restfully. I mentioned that they portray the royals here as heading oward a contingent collapse, and he says, Its not that simple, Im afraid. They are too powerful, too enough. They have low friends in high places. It would take a alteration to get rid of them, and the English people Just want a quiet life. To lighten the conversation up, I morose the subject to English traditions. He states that on that point arent many left.He says, We have cat-o-nine-tails Fawkes Day. Its fireworks to keep the capture of Guy Fawkes, who tried to grope up parliament. He laughs, When I worked there, down in the basement on a wall is scrawled Guy Fawkes was here, and an email address. Guy Fawkes was like three hundred years ago. We also have Pancake Day, when we all eat flapcakes. Some have pancake races, where women run while tossing pancak es in a pan. We also have egg and remove races where you run with an egg balanced on a small spoon. All very sensible pastimes. Our conversation rolled around to what the English think of America.Steves impression seems to abide by through easily with his words. It depends on whether theyVe been to America or not. IVe never met anyone whos been there that doesnt acknowledge America or Americans. Americans over here in England, though, can get under ones skin across as a little loud and brash. The English that go over to the States flow to go to Florida for the climate and Disneyworld. Its where all the travel package companies sell holidays to. Its closer than California. more or less English peeps like beaches. They fly 5000 miles to lie on a beach for two weeks. It doesnt make sense to me. Id rather see the countryside or the cities. Then he quotes sunlight bores the daylights outta me, a Mick Jagger line. Did I mention he was a Stones fan? Steve has constantly been qui ck to say how much he loves America. Hes traveled across the ocean about four times already, and driven from one coast to the other, a trek he ays he wants to do again, as briefly as he can move over a month off from work. I asked if he thought it would be more difficult, since 9/1 1, to get a visa to come here. He said he has a life visa. If youVe been in the States a couple of times on short visas and havent overstayed or misbehaved, they give you a life visa.Or at least they used to. He proudly admits to having one. With his views of the organisation in England, I couldnt help but ask if hed ever considered moving here. He said he had, after his first tattle here. And after his second. A d his terce The first couple ot times I was married My sister-in-law nad MS and my wife wouldnt leave England. I also had a cracking band, which in American term means a really good band. On a later trip, the admit market crashed. If I had sold my house, I would have owed $120,000. Going back to the preaching of England, I asked if they got much sunshine during the year.Steve, in his charming way said, mieah, we had a good summer. Think it happened on a Thursday. I inquired about this because weve all seen the old stainless movies depicting London always under a blanket of stupor. When I mentioned this, he laughed. No, thats a myth. We do get fog occasionally but mostly in the countryside, ot London. But when we get it, we get it, thickset as soup. He goes on to say that it rains a lot in England, which makes the country very green, which he likes. England is cognize for its paltry attention on roads. I asked Steve about this.He says, Potholes are everywhere in topical anaesthetic roads. The weather breaks roads up and they wont patch up for upkeep. England is famous for digging holes in the roads. They destroy cables, pipes, etc. , fill them in, come back a week later, dig them up again. Its a British pastime. I asked if people travel much. He says mo st people holiday abroad. Its cheaper to go to Spain than to stay in England. When asked if England was a majority of wealthy or poor, he says that most are not poor, but they have their money fasten up in their houses. On paper, there are a lot of rich people.I myself have $200,000 on paper, but its fastened up in my house. The cheapest apartment in my area costs $130,000. If you rent, its usually from the topical anesthetic government. Then, as an example, after a few years you can buy it at a 66% discount. Then you give maybe $30,000 for a house thats worth $100,000, so most people buy. The government does this for their own benefit. Its short term they get cash and dont have to pay the maintenance costs. The downside is that there are no homes visible(prenominal) for people to rent. I unfortunately bought on the open market, so no discount. Its arouse to know that, like here in America, they have a variety of accents. Steve speaks Cockney, which is known around the London area. If youVe seen the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen film Winning London, my sisters favorite movie, youll get a hint of it. To us its fast spoken and hard to understand, and believe me, isnt much easier to understand in text, which he throws in from time to time Just to cloud me. He also mentions the Queens English, which is much more proper sounding, and hat we generally get wind spoken on television.There are other accents as well, depending on the region you come from. I hated to end the interview. England has so much to learn about. I would have liked to delve much more deeply into the history and culture of his country, the things we dont hear and read about here in the States. But its getting late for Steve. England is 7 hours ahead of Texas. Its very easy to allow for the time difference and Just keep talking, on my end at least. I am very happy to have met Steve, even if we never get the opportunity to meet tace-to-tace.