New York City - tales from a local
* Common t-shirt phrase in NYC: "If it's called 'tourist season,' why can't we shoot them?"

* On the observation deck of the Empire State Building, I once overheard a Southern gentleman complain that the coin-operated binoculars couldn't turn completely around.. which would have made a lot of sense had he wanted to pay to look at the wall behind him.

* Sitting in a subway train watching a group of tourists from somewhere slavic-sounding take photos of each and every ad poster placed along the ceiling.

* One of my favorite things to do in the local version of Mme Tussauds is to wear sunglasses and stand really still until some old lady starts admiring me, commenting on how lifelike I look. Then I violently sneeze.

* Listening to a couple of theatregoers from Blighty who were vaguely disappointed that New York's version of the musical "Les Miserables" turned out to be nearly identical to their one.

* Buying a Queen cassette sometime in the late 80s, leaving a stray Englishman in the store shocked and amazed I, a Yank, knew who Queen were at all.

* During a trip to Atlantic City, chatting with an increasingly drunk tourist lady from California at the bar, and eventually reciting the whole Red Dwarf "smart shoes" gag complete with punchline, which amazed her to no end. She failed to recognize it as a joke, or ask about the car door. (Search for "shoes" here for the whole speech.)
( Rob T Firefly talked, like, William Shatner, on, Sat 9 Jul 2005, 3:13, Reply)