travel and customs

[Jeffrey Crawley]

It's funny US customs have always had a reputation around the world for being,
shall we say "thorough"? I must admit that, when I lived in Canada (with a UK
passport) I always found the officials on the Pidgeon River (Minnesota)
crossing to be both polite and interested in you as a person.

There was an article in one of the London Sunday newspapers last weekend on
Tim Robbins. The journalist wrote:

"At immigration control in Los Angeles airport a couple of weeks ago, I
submitted to the bureaucratic ordeal that now routinely greets British
visitors to America. When I finally convinced the customs officer that I was
not seeking employment, asylum or the destruction of the free world, she asked
me who it was I had come to interview. Tim Robbins, I replied. 'But,' she
said, a look of bemusement lending sudden animation to her expressionless
face, 'he hasn't got a movie coming out.' I told her that I was there to talk
to him about a play he had written. 'Right,' she nodded, then supplied a
little cautionary advice: 'Just don't be taken in by his politics.'
Only in America is it no surprise to find a state official who is aware of a
film actor's latest output, and only in America would that actor's political
pronouncements inspire that official to issue a warning, almost as a condition
of entry."

Good luck, America, in November!

Jeffrey


Quoting Lydia Banales <lydiaaBANALES.NET>:

> Hi Howard,
> I've missed you and your always interesting comments. I disagree
> completely with what you said but I respect your right to say it. Lydia


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