Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
02:52:04 on Tue, 13 Sep 2011, 1506 remarked:
Exceptionally, and unusually, Roland, I am with Tony on this one. It
takes a while to understand anywhere. A week is barely enough to give
a flavor. At this time I am in the UK. After spending decades in the
US, I still learned something new every week.

We all have different skills. I've moved around a lot, including a spell
living in the USA. I'm very observant and instinctively spot the
socio-economic patterns which form the basis for lifestyle in different
places. I've made numerous trips to places like Paris, Brussels, Geneva
and Amsterdam, and feel that I've gained considerable insight into the
local culture/logistics by the time I've spent seven days mixing with
the locals (I'm not talking about sitting on the beach or other classic
tourist activities).

The more places you visit, the more you can assemble a picture from a
set of building blocks.


Of course it helps greatly if you have already drawn your conclusions
at the outset, and are completely determined not to let any contrary
facts dislodge your preconceived ideas ... which appears to be the way
you operate.