USA 2001 - Day 9

Today I will be using a push once, pull twice and twist up and down fast and slow tap.

We made for Monterey for really only one thing and that was to go to the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. It seems to be unique in the fact that they don’t keep all the exhibits in tanks forever, the sea-life is returned to the wild and re-stocked with the same species at certain intervals. This approach makes you feel better about going to see animals in captivity, knowing that they don’t spend their lives swimming around the same tank forever. Mind you the tanks are massive structures that stretch along and up the walls of the aquarium walkways so the fish have plenty of room.

We’d just arrived and were standing in the entrance foyer getting our bearings when an American man and his family came rushing in through the turnstiles and the first thing he said in a very loud voice to no one in particular was, “Hey some fish! Let’s go see ‘em!” He sounded so surprised. What, fish? In an aquarium? Surely not.

And it got worse.

Wandering around we came across another American family, mum, dad, teenage son and daughter. We were all standing in front of a gigantic display tank housing various different species of shark when the daughter said, “Oh my Gahd, wouldn’t it be freaky if you fell in there? Wouldn’t it be freaky? Wouldn’t it be really freaky? If you fell in there? Wouldn’t it be freaky?” Then, after seeing a small leopard shark swim by, “Woh! That totally freaked me out. I was, like, woh! My Gahd, shark!” Then her brother appeared and said to his dad, “Wouldn’t it be freaky if you fell in there? Wouldn’t it be freaky?” Then turning to his mum he said, “Wouldn’t it be freaky if you fell in there? Wouldn’t it be freaky?”

Christ almighty, are they all deranged human beings out here?

We eventually spent almost five hours here before moving on. Our next stop was San Francisco 120 miles up the coast and we intend to spend the rest of today and tomorrow there. Arriving in San Francisco we found a motel and immediately went out to get something to eat as it was getting quite late. We didn’t want much so we found a small pizza takeaway that had a few tables and chairs for eat-in customers. We ordered, sat down and soon after our meal was brought up to us. There was an American and his family at the next table looking very agitated when suddenly the woman said to one of the staff, “Is our order ready yet?” and looking over at us, “We ordered before those people there.” The staff rushed into action plonking down a huge salad, drinks and finally a pizza the size of a dustbin lid. The man sat and watched all the food arrive and when it was all there he got up and walked over to the serving counter. He said, “That pizza has been standing on the side there for ten minutes. You took it out the oven, I saw you, and just left it there. Gimme my money back. I don’ wan’ it now. It’ll be cold. I don’ wan’ it warmed up. I wan’ my money.”

And out they all went, the man with his money of course.

Now that’s the way to complain isn’t it? If that had happened in England we’d have waited all day for our order, had it warmed up and still left a tip when we went.