I am really intrigued with WYSIWYG's comment - like we haven't got that sort of folk club over here. I've heard something like it a few times from our American friends. I wonder why not. You'd like it - you really would. It's fun.

Geography, geography, geography. Check with Leadfingers or Giok on terrain issues and how it maight impact one's music habits and opportunities.

Let's say the BBC Radio Ballads does a whole hour on the building of a big, important road. This vaunted road goes from one inportant part of England to another really important part-- in relation to the country's population or industry; I confess I didn't study deep enough to know but just enjoyed the program.

... Which my husband and I listened to in our van, driving somewhere "nearby" in my part of the US. It's an hour away-- same length as the road being described, and same travel time as the Radio Ballad show playing in the van's CD player.

In between-- hardly any people. I mean, SPARSE. Along your road-- a rich, abundant netwrok of villages, towns, and cities.

That same length of travel, in another Ballad show, is described as being an area where people would routinely go off for a day's ramble. In our place, though, it's all vertical. Never seen a rambling soul there. Hitchhikers trying to cross out of the county after leaving our county jail, yes. But walking for fun--- uh, nope. Not that far. Maybe the same length of time walking in areas where it's conducive-- but not nearly the same amount of ground covered.

Really, Leadfingers seemed to GET it while he was here. I wish he would write about it. I am sure I don't describe it right for you UKers. Anyway, it's a different world. Maybe it's reflected in the first colonists' reports back to the sponsoring companies or somewhere.

Not all the US is as I describe, but a lot of it is and a lot of the rest is climate-problematic.

~Susan