This week I’m hailing you from the lovely British Columbia Vancouver area. This must be one of the greatest places on earth. It is green, it is cool and the beauty is spectacular. My DH told me it was a whopping 111 at my house today and it’s been at least 110 every day this week. I swear we’re absolutely certifiable for living in a place like that! LOL! Which is the biggest reason I’m here.
I’m visiting a girlfriend whose mother recently died. I had talked about it for years and always wanted to come up as I’d heard it was fantastic. When her mother passed this spring, I just knew I had to visit her then because it would probably be a while before I had another chance as next time I'll have to bring the DH. And it was the best gamble ever. We’ve been able to catch up on things and talk about many new ones as well.
One of our outings was to where the 2010 Olympics are being held, Whistler, which is north of Vancouver and the Squamish area where she lives. It has some astounding places and sites and this darn gondola I just couldn’t bring myself to get on. Yeah, I’m that afraid of being in a box suspended by wires high above the ground. Planes don’t bother me but this thing would have been devastating and taken a minimum of four rides to even be comfortable. A waste of a good $80 if you asked me. LOL!
After that, we went to lunch and sat at the pub having wonderful food and great company as we watched everything around us. As we sat there we talked about how we both liked to people watch. I told her that I would sit there and wonder how a couple ever got together, especially if they didn’t look like they belonged as well as sometimes taking it a little further and projecting them onto characters in my books. Or I’d see if I could make them characters in a book. LOL!
I was surprised to see she did much the same as I did when she watched people and the world go by. Now my final observation was people were basically the same the world over. She’s a little bit older than me and has traveled the world a lot more. She told me it used to be people were different but now they just all seem to blend together. While it’s great that everyone can blend so well together, I am a little dismayed there aren’t a lot of cultural differences any more. I mean what would we do without a sexy Scotsman? Or an endearing Indian? Sigh. I would not have any fun, that’s what would happen in my world.
Now, that brings me to this week’s question and thoughts. How do you as a reader like to see those cultural differences? Do you see the main characters as people who come together in spite of or because of those differences?
And authors, just how do you deal with those differences? Do they even matter to you as a writer?
I know I’ll never live without a Scotsman in my life! I can’t wait to see all your answers!
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