Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

State lines every 5 miles

Welcome to New England, where the states are small. And specifically, welcome to Rhode Island - which is the smallest state of all. It does have the longest official name in the Union to make up for it - it rejoices in the name of The State of Rhode Island And Providence Plantations - so I guess that size isn't entirely important. We're currently holed up in a small hotel in Newport, RI watching the rain lash down outside while cursing the town highways department for the razor-sharp kerbstones with which most of the local roads are blessed. While getting fantastically lost looking for the hotel I pulled over to dig out the directions, bumped the kerb fairly gently and then sat listening to the gentle hisssssss of escaping air as the nearside front tyre lost the will to live. It had been a pretty irritating day already and this was the last in a long list of stress points, so it was merciful that the Hertz roadside assistance people sorted things out in double-quick time and sent a tow-truck to get the wheel changed.

This was a genuine all-American tow truck, an enormous hulking lump bristling with lights which appeared in the rear-view mirror like the mothership from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. As all the driver needed was a jack and his nifty electric wheel wrench this probably counted as overkill, but the wheel was changed a lot quicker than if I'd done it myself with the piddly little jack and wrench provided with the car.

The car! I must mention the car. I'd reserved a standard-size car, which is often a Mustang or the like. This is good for me as I've driven them before but even better, the helpful Hertz person at Logan was in a good mood and quietly upgraded it to a convertible. A silver Mustang convertible! With New York plates! Okay, so it's the middle of winter in New England but at least we're prepared if there's a sudden spell of dry weather.

A brief inspection of the damaged tyre today made me decide it wasn't worth even attempting to get it repaired - it had a tear several inches long in the side wall which went right through the ply underneath - so a quick call to Hertz resulted in most of today being spent on a trip to TF Green Airport in Providence to exchange it for a new one. My good heavens, the replacement turned out to be a red Mustang convertible with, and I am not making this up, California plates. It wasn't the same one as I'd hired last year, but it was sure a long way from home and probably feeling a little damp due to the rain not having stopped all day.

On the way back we stopped at an Outback Steakhouse for some comedy lunch. This is a chain of, well, sort-of-Australian-themed diners with lots of fake Aussie junk on the walls and shovelfuls of "fair dinkum"-type stuff in the menu. I was particularly entertained by the card on the table inviting me to "Say g'day to a frosty cold one!" where the cold one referred to was not VB or Toohey's but Budweiser.

On the subject of America's favourite beer, I can't resist passing on a pointer to the latest offering from those master brewers at Anheuser-Busch, Bud Extra. Yes, you read right - it's beer with added ginseng, caffeine and guarana...

I managed to get out for a run today in my shiny new shoes. With the temperature around freezing and a biting cold wind adding to the fun, it was definitely bracing. And hilly. Just the thing to make a holiday complete.

Posted by mpk at January 9, 2005 12:15 AM | TrackBack