Holiday reminiscence Pt. 2

Let's see, what else can I tell you? The whole trip was an adventure in the truest sense - I mean, flying standby and ending up in First Class for the trip out was a blast before we'd even left Frankfurt! We got the serious fat cat treatment all right - huge, multi-adjustable, leather recliner seats, champagne, a choice of delicious food and wines, constant pampering by really helpful staff, the works. One of the funnest bits for me was realising at some point hours into the trip that our part of the plane was, in fact, cordonned of from the Great Unwashed by one of those thick felt ropes complete with gilted hooks at the end that you find in museum queues and posh night clubs. Standing there looking down the aisle which did get quite a bit narrower the other side of the rope gave me all kinds of different thoughts. First, I felt a little out of place - after all, I grew up staring at that kind of rope quite a bit, wishing I could be on the other side where things always seemed so much more exciting than where we usually were, looking for a cheap place to eat or a "reasonably-priced" hotel. Yes, I do think I've worked through a lot of my childhood traumas pretty successfully, but some things will come back to haunt me from time to time... Another sensation was, of course, "this is cool! This is exclusive! Hey, look at me, I'M flying First class - remind me, how much did you pay for your cheap, cramped little space out there without all that service and style?" I did suppress the urge to shout, though - after all, I probably paid less for my privileges than almost everyone of those people in Coach. So anway. Oh, another hoot was, of course, the inevitable I 94 or Visa Waiver Form, to be filled-out in-flight and including deep, insightful, probing questions such as (and I quote): "Have you been involved in [...] terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany[...]?" Anyway, after getting there and getting settled-in, we found that we'd in fact landed right in the heartland of some of America's finest scenery. Not only were we mere miles from the watertower known throughout the States for its inscription, "Florence Y'all" (no, this isn't one of my pics, but it is a lot better than mine - thank you, cincinnati.com) in fun-laden Florence, KY. No, in fact it was only a matter of several more miles (dispensed of painlessly at a mind-numbing 65 mph on those endless multi-lane freeways they have in 't US) to the very house that featured in countless vid clips and, of course, a Miller Lite (beer) commercial for it's, well, astonishing array of computer-choreographed Christmas lights and (the scary bit) the accompanying cheesy, 1980's style soundtrack that was FM-broadcast at passing vehicles for maximum entertainment value. Unfortunately, I don't have photographic material of the place as complaints from the neighbourhood forced Carson Williams to eventually shut his display down, but we did drive by there one night and take a peek. Snopes.com has a rundown of the story, in case you're interested. All for now, more later...