Ireland & USA: Little Differences #6
Umbrellas
In an American metro area of two million people, I’m the only person I’ve ever seen with an umbrella.
And people look at you funny. On the bus, in the pub, at the shops, walking the dog, in church, restaurants, post offices, banks, the looks are either ones of great confusion or anger. Why do you have one of those?
Granted, when there are thousands of strikes of lightning around you, pointing a metal stick at the sky isn’t the best option, but there really are other chances.
This is a midwest thing though - as Kansas City writer Joe Miller put it today on a trip to New York:
I showed up in Harlem about an hour early for the reading. It was raining out. But I had bought an umbrella. Umbrella’s are brilliant. In Kansas City, we just use cars
And that’s the best thing about umbrellas in Kansas City; nobody else uses them. So you can use an oversized golf umbrella without having to accomodate the movements of any other pedestrians. Ever.
There are no other pedestrians.
See Other Differences:
• Car Bombs
• Things I never heard before moving to America
• Robins
• An Irish Odyssey in Kansas City
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
I’m from the Chicagoland area, and I carry an umbrella with me almost at all times! They’re more common than you might think!
This post specifically refers to Kansas City, as the 1st line makes clear and the 2nd last paragraph, and the example quoted in the middle.
I’m well aware they’re common in some other American cities - which is why I specified that I was talking about Kansas City.