Cultural Differences

And here we have Nathan banging his nose on some concrete steps:



Cultural differences do not just involve different countries.

Last week, in New York City, Steve and I went to dinner. We had to make reservations, because when we haven't we've ended up not having anyplace to go. We made the reservations for 7pm, a ridiculously early time in NY. In France, many places do not open for dinner until 8pm.

Yesterday night, Steve and I went to dinner here, in New Hampshire. Many places around here do not take reservations, although some places do have "call ahead" where you can call ahead and put yourself on the wait list before you arrive. We pulled into the parking lot of the place we wanted to eat just before 6pm. We could not find a parking space. That is to say that at 6pm the restaurant was completely full. With people waiting to be seated.

A few months ago we went out at 7:30 and closed a place down. It closed at 8pm, but no one walked in after we did. And here we are at 6pm, it hasn't been dark for an hour, and we can't find a parking spot. Because here in New Hampshire, all night life must take place between 4:30 and 7pm, as though we were senior citizens at a Denny's.

For the record, we drove around and stopped at a few places. We found a couple that DO take reservations and we shall be visiting them in the not-too-distant future. We also found a place that didn't have a wait and could seat us AND feed us, and the food was not pizza, and was still good. There were cloth tablecloths on the table and real silverware. And we had a fabulous time. We got there at 6:15. No wait. By 6:45 there was a crowd of people waiting for a table.

I think I need to open a restaurant here. Obviously they do well.