Everybody… culture observations and stereotypes

I’m not sure about the European incident rates of lung or skin cancer, but they’ve got to be through the roof. Everybody smokes. And not just the European cigarettes that may or may not be as habit forming or dangerous as your run of the mill Philip Morris (i.e. Marlboro) cancer stick. No, Europeans love PM. They smoke those things as though they were Church sanctioned. I can’t imagine buying any of the following in Europe, a used car, used shag carpet, and finally a donated organ of any kind. You’d have to be real hard up to find a smoke free donor in these parts. ‘Cause… everybody smokes.

Nobody puts on sunscreen. We’ve spent gobs of time on the beach. We’ve seen Germans, Norwegians, Brits, Ausis, Scots, and more. There are more nations represented on these coastal waters then at a David Hasselhoff concert. Other than the Hoff, they have one thing in common, a complete aversion to sunscreen. What was once pale and pasty has now been transformed into a hue so red it rivals purple. As though they’ve been living in caves and attracted by the light, they have forgotten the melting point of their translucent flesh. Nobody puts on sunscreen.

Finally, the hype about all the Speedos is just hype. Not enough men wear Speedos. I was promised beaches brimming with bronzed bodied overweight men squeezed tight into spandex man-panties. These are men willing to express their man thighs and packages enveloped in the best fabric the 1960’s had to offer. Free to let their cheeks see the sun and their bellies blow in the warm Mediterranean air. But at some point our Western prudish ways made it across the pond by way of the board short. What’s next, coolots and jean jumpers. I want more Speedos, cause there are simply not enough.