Summer Complaints (OR- What NOT to do when you visit Maine!) (Bangor: house, live in)
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Summer Complaints (OR- What NOT to do when you visit Maine!
DeerIsleSmile, this ought to be handed out in the tollbooths to every car headed north on the Maine Turnpike. A gem, and so true...but you also need to tell them to disarm their @#$!!! car alarms, which they refuse to believe they don't need here. They need to see all of us in January, when it's -10, leaving our cars running and the keys in the ignition while we shop for groceries...funny thing, those cars are always there when we get back...
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Location: Learnifying me some good at UMaine at Fort Kent
306 posts, read 1,036,608 times
Reputation: 189
I was in New Jersey one time visiting family and I was just fishing by one of their lighthouses. Alot of people gather there to fish or crab or sit there and complain about the heat. Almost everyone there I talked to had the same reaction.
Them-"Your not from around here, you sound like you are from New England with your accent. Plus you seem too nice."
Me-"I am from Maine, actually"
Them-"OH, Like LL Bean and Lobster!"
Me-"..."
Them-"You go to LL Bean alot? I love that place I always order jackets from there, Hey how often do you eat lobster? Is it really cheap there because here its expensive...blah blah blah LOBSTAH!"
If you stop and ask if you can get a sprig of my lilac bush because it is so pretty and smells so nice. When I tell you sure, a sprig is a SMALL thing, not the front half.
Last edited by Cornerguy1; 11-06-2007 at 05:30 PM..
Reason: orphaned content
Although currently exiled in California, I remember trying to decide if mosquitoes or tourists were the greater plague of the summer months when I lived in the Kennebunkport area. But, every so often I would remember that many people save money all year to take one or two weeks of vacation to experience what I was able to experience on a daily basis. I'm also surprised noone has mentioned that tourists should use a little tact when discussing the obvious challenge of dental care in the more rural areas of our beloved state.
Today was the first time I had read it at all. There was a rather bizarre post before mine and I just had to comment on it. It looks like it was deleted and mine edited, which is fine because the other post was just way out there. I thought the OP was rather clever and had to add one that happened to me last spring.
Well, I live in a touristy area. Right across the bridge from San Francisco. I'm pretty used to tourists. I am one myself from time to time. Every place is different and everyone has pre-conceived notions about every place. The thing I find most amusing is that most people who come to the SF Bay Area seem to be expecting Los Angeles or more specifically, Hollywood. I lived in LA for a while and people who went to Hollywood seemed surprised it was very different from what they expected. I'm originally from Texas and most folks seem to also have an idea of what Texas is like. Well, not only is each state different but different areas of each state are quite different. I actually had people asking me about cattle when I moved to California some 20 years ago. To be honest, the first cow I had ever seen in my life was just across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. I was raised in Houston, didn't listen to country music, and have never owned a pair of cowboy boots nor a hat. I notice that when I travel and people see I'm from California, they make many assumptions about me and where I live that simply aren't true. In short, people say some pretty silly things. It doesn't annoy me in the slightest. I'm looking at properties in "Downeast" Maine because I just happen to like the place. The wages are low and many areas aren't quite as convenient as living right in the middle of a major metropolitan area but then again, they don't have many of the other wonderful things I could very happily do without.
I don't let the silly things people say bother me because I'm sure some of the crap that spews forth from my maw can seem silly as well depending on the point of view. If I were to let it bother me then they'd go on their merry way not even knowing I was upset and they'd be living in my head rent-free.
Sometimes on this board I am amused when I see questions like "Do they have satellite TV in this place or that?" I'm tempted to respond with "No you dolt... They have satellite dishes pointed at the satellites up in the southern sky just like everyone else in the Northern Hemisphere!" but somehow I refrain. Don't let such questions and remarks get to you because one thing that folks from all over the globe seem to have in common, including some Mainers, is the ability shut down the brain and open the mouth.
Way back in the late '70s, I actually had a couple of Tourists from the Midwest ask me where they could find the gold-paved streets in Houston. Really! If there were streets paved in gold, I'd be out there digging instead of pumping gas.
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