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Excessive activity in a car can lead to undesired outcomes. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

What you've described is called "rush" or "lack of time" in simpler words. Here, either you it AT McDonalds, either you buy a "take away" and bring it home or whatever place you're going to. Also, breakfasts here are usually dealt at home as well. That's odd. Then again, Europe and USA are completely different and opposed, like water and fire. What is normal there is impossible here and viceversa. Very interesting, indeed. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> By the way ... the "car games" ... maybe I haven't had enough experience yet, but I had never seen someone playing in a car (apart from little kids obviously), in USA however, it seems to be very normal.

We should have some place to discuss how different the "worlds" are on the same planet. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Just kidding, it will lead to unhealthy debates.

hehehe - you've never seen my cousins play in my car. Talk about insane!! I was driving & they were 12 & 14 at the time. They were making faces at other people in other cars AND playing punchbuggy very intensely or is that violently? Anyway, I was driving and I don't play any car games at all when I'm driving since that would obviously be very dangerous. My cousins had me laughing so hard when I was driving - they were simply crazy!

Punchbuggy & PT Cruiser Bruiser are games that should be played only with the participants in the back seat. It's not intended for the driver to participate. I don't generally condone violence, but as long as the kids aren't actually punching each other but keeping it to something close to a friendly tap, I don't mind the game being played.

So you would go to a McDonalds, drive all the way home and eat it at home? I don't think I've ever heard of such a thing <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Many people in the states have a 1/2 hr to a full hour commute each day. That's a long time to be sitting in a car without having some coffee to drink! It's not a matter of being rushed or anything else. Sure, many of them might have some breakfast before they leave the house. But they still stop off at Dunkin Donuts, grab some coffee and a donut or muffin, and then settle in for the drive. Some listen to NPR radio, some have books-on-tape to listen while they drive, etc.

As far as eating McDonalds (etc) in the car, we do it all the time while we're travelling. The idea of eating in a McDonalds with lots of screaming children and slimy seats really doesn't appeal to me when I'm in the middle of a 4 hour drive anyway. I'd MUCH rather be in our comfy car, listening to the radio, nice and peaceful, talking to each other. Plus if you're driving 4 hours to get somewhere you don't usually feel like tacking on another 1/2 hour to that time to sit in a McDonalds somewhere and savor your french fries <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

It's no different than eating in an airplane seat when you're flying somewhere. You don't do it for rush reasons. You do it because it's time to eat, and you're in the middle of going somewhere.

It sounds like you really don't use your car a lot except for short little drives, yes? That might be why you have a different point of view. But I do know many Europeans that have commutes to work and I know for a fact that they do the coffee-donut thing in the morning <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I guess me and my sister weren't punching types so we didn't think about a game like that. When we drove places we tended to sing a lot of songs, do the license plate game, and do the "find something that beings with the next letter of the alphabet" game. So one person would spot an apple, then the next a bird and so on.

Games definitely aren't just for kids. Jeez, what would life be like if adults didn't have any fun? What's the purpose of living if life is boring? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Most adults I know still enjoy sports and play board games and card games and so on. Fun games in the car is a way to pass the time. Like I said, I love the "speak only in phrases of X words" game, that's tons of fun. Plus we have this great board game called Cranium that has cards that have you do all sorts of things. We carry the cards in the car and play with those. They might say things like "imitate John Wayne without mentioning any names or places" or "hum the theme to Star Trek" and others have to guess what you're doing.

AINTD, I was thinking about your "do people drive foreign cars" question a few days ago when we ate at a very nice restaurant. Practically every single car in the lot was a BMW or an AUDI or so on <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I don't think I've put it that way, did I? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I meant that BWM's and Mercedeses often annoy on the road. Here they do. And in USA they do twice as much, I'm sure of it. Why? Because mostly (mostly, not always), people who drive them missbehave on the road. I'm not talking about speeding, since that' OK in my mind ( <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> That's what I do) but being "rude", agressive, breaking the basic traffic rules, etc. I've read an article written by an American taxi driver with a 30 years experience and he was talking about these matters and it only confirmed it. Number one as*h**** - BMW drivers ... Mercedes was on seventh place I think. In many cases, a person who buys a European car in USA has something wrong in him if you understand me. Here, noone drives American cars except for Ford (which more likely an International company) and similar. The only ones you can sometimes see are C5 Corvette's. I'm not saying that to buy a BMW car in USA you must be a freak or something, I'm saying that that's what things look like. A tendency. Audi's sell well in USA because of illegal company prices policy.

What do you appreciate in a car?

Of course games are not just for kids. I have no respect for the people who say that computer games, console games, board games and all other are just "kiddy's stuff", they are definitely lost.

Here, we usually go to McDonalds when there is little time. For instance, we would go to McDonalds if we were away all day and only got back home at four o'clock and there is no time left for cooking, then we'd go to McDonalds, buy a take-away and eat it at home.

Why not buy US cars though? I guess what I was saying is in the US people buy cars of all types, just like when you go into the grocery store there are 10 kinds of apples and you can choose whatever appeals to you at the moment. Whatever your price range and interest, there's a car suited for you, and it really doesn't matter where it comes from ...

I'm so intrigued by your dinner system!!

Here we eat around 6pm or 7pm. And cooking food only takes 1/2 hr or so, you toss something on the grill (since it's summer) and a salad and veggies and you're set. So if someone gets home at 6pm, we wouldn't bother driving out to somewhere, getting food, driving back again and eating it. By that time you could have easily made your food and be eating it <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> And to go out deliberately for McDonalds is interesting! To me McDonalds is sort of the drabbest food you could get, but you grab it on the road because it's right there and convenient and you don't spend extra time on your trip. But I don't think I would ever deliberately leave the house to go TO a McDonalds as a destination ...

Anyone else want to chime in here?

Well, cars aren't apples, are they? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Cars differ from apples primarilly because they are easily seen and often get on the way of other people. Nobody except for you and your family knows what apples you eat. So, when someone is driving and sees a car ahead of him behaving in an agressive way, then it's hardly but acceptable, but when it is a "foreign" object, then a comment "Well of course, this [swearing goes in here] is driving a BMW! What an [even more swearing]!" is very natural and comes out without even thinking. Maybe it's different at your place (I doubt that, though), but when you see a car that is missbehaving and comes from another province (state in your case), this always plays a role. If it was someone from your state, then it's more or less forgiving, but if not, then "This [state/province name] [swearing] is a comlete [swearing]!" exclamation is natural. Well, Lisa, I'm sure, that you do not swear but I hope you get the point. I have little time to be concise, so I'm writing many words. Just like Lenin said while writing to his wife Krupskaya "My dear! I have little time, so I'm writing long to you." <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Anyway, that's the point. I'll tell you more about dinner system in my next post. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />