After much prevarication, we eventually drove downtown. The centre of Dallas is no more crowded than the rest of the city. The only differences I could tell was that some of the lots had skyscrapers on them (but only about ten or fifteen) and there were people on the streets. We went to meet Steven at his office and he showed us the view from his office which is on the fifty-something floor of one of the tower blocks. The advantage of having so few skyscrapers is that you get an uninterrupted view of the rest of the city and because it’s all so low-rise, you get to see all of notable places from one vantage.
Lunch was had at a Texas BBQ diner and then we parted ways with Steven to head out to see Kevin and Chris. Their neighbourhood for some reason made me think of Disneyworld and I can’t quite put my finger on why. The lawns and gardens are no more manicured than in Richardson (where Brett’s parents live) but there was something about the architecture that was sufficiently fanciful to make me think of Hansel & Gretel or some other fairy story. Anyway, all that aside, it’s a nice neighbourhood. Their house is in excellent condition for a young couple with a baby. Nicely maintained and decorated. They have a lovely dining room, all done out in Art Deco walnuts, which reminded me strongly of Eltham Palace. I know that they haven’t had to undergo all the initial messiness of having a newborn (they were only able to collect Carter from the adoption agency when he was six months old) but they do seem to be coping better than other new parents in my experience.
We spent the afternoon visiting with them both and watching coverage of the Democratic Convention that they’d recorded the previous night. It is a curious experience watching another country’s Party Political speeches. I kept having to remind myself that they were written for domestic consumption and had to fit with the worldview of the people they wanted to convince to vote for them. Even so there were parts where I just couldn’t help but laugh. I also wondered how much of that kind of rhetoric slips past me in our own elections simply because it is targeted at convincing ME where to cast my vote. But then I like to think that we have a healthy suspicion in the UK about the motives of politicians when they talk to the people.
We also headed out to the local comic store. Brett hadn’t had his fix for a few weeks and apparently Kevin is a comic fanatic too. While they browsed, I wandered through the various other goods, mostly figurines and merchandising, that the shop had to offer. Kevin and Brett got chatting with the store owner (who Brett had pointed out to me in a magazine article while we were in Washington) and in due course I was introduced as the token Brit. Very nice chap – damn good looking too! On the way home we had a Starbucks and called in at the Apple store. I was possibly in the market for a mini-iPod, but in the end decided to hold off until I’d tried cycling to music using Brett’s.
We had dinner at a Texan/Salvadorian restaurant, but there was nothing too unusual about Salvadorian cuisine. I did leave some, but only because there was way too much on the plate. The evening was spent watching more TV and debating whether or not we wanted to go out for ice cream.
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