As I’ve complained about before, I am sick… Last week, I went to Boots to get cough syrup. Of all the ones that were available on the shelves, none of them looked like the right stuff, but I grabbed one that said it was for “tickly coughs”. It didn’t seem to work very well. That is because, as it turns out, it is just supposed to soothe the throat to stop the cough. Useless. So, I go back yesterday, and I ask the person behind the counter for something for a dry cough. He gives me a bottle from behind the counter, along with the real pseudoephedrine, which I have to ask specifically for. I didn’t look at it very closely at the bottle, though. Last night, I start coughing really bad while I am laying down trying to sleep. So, I get up and take the cough syrup. About 20 minutes later, my eyes fly open, and I am WIDE awake… I start bouncing around, and immediately realize that I didn’t check the ingredients in the cough syrup. It contains pholcodine, which is a codeine derivative. Luckily, it is a derivative, so I didn’t spend the whole night vomiting, but I didn’t sleep at all, either. Stupid me – I thought it would be the same stuff that is in Robitussin. And even stupider because it’s a bottle that is simply and clearly labeled “Pholcodine linctus”. I didn’t even have to read the fine print… Now I am really tired, and today is a vacation day for me, since it’s Labor Day in the US, and I try to take the same holidays that Ray has, since Ray is still working on a US schedule…

There is a certain person at work who keeps asking, “What time is it in America?” And when I ask where in America, he responds “I don’t know. It doesn't matter. Just tell me what time it is there.” Despite the fact that I’ve informed him that the Continental United States spans 4 time zones, I don’t think folks here actually get how big the US is. So, I’ve come up with these numbers, all from Wikipedia since it has a box on the right hand side with geographical info. I did verify the numbers in other places, like Nat Geo’s site or the CIA fact book and while all are different, they are pretty close. In short, NC is bigger than all of England (since they don’t seem to like to acknowledge the Welsh, Scots or Irish as being their countrymen):

My home state, North Carolina:
Total area = 139,509 sq km or 53,865 sq mi
(Nat Geo says 139,389 sq km and 53,819 sq mi)
Width 150 miles or 240 km
Length 560 miles or 901 km
Ranked 28th out of 50 states

England (not including, Wales, Scotland, etc):
Total area = 130,395 sq km or 50,346 sq mi
(I had found another source for this, but can’t find it now)

Closest in size to England is Louisiana:
Total area = 134,382 sq km or 51,885 sq mi
(Nat Geo: 134,264 sq km or 51,840 sq mi)
Width 130 miles or 210 km
Length 379 miles or 610 km
Ranked 31st out of 50 states

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:
Total area = 244,820 sq km or 94,526 sq mi
(Nat Geo says 242,910 sq km and 93,788 sq mi)

Closest in size to entire official country of UK, probably, is Wyoming, since Michigan is 41.5% water:
Total area = 253,348 sq km or 97,818 sq mi
(Nat Geo = 253,336 sq km or 97,814 sq mi)
Width 280 miles or 450 km
Length 360 miles or 580 km
Ranked 10th out of 50 states

And, if you want to see overall, The United States of America, though this does include Alaska and Hawaii:
Total area = 9,631,420 sq km or 3,718,695 sq mi
(Nat Geo says 9,826,630 sq km and 3,794,083 sq mi)


I have to say, though, I guess I shouldn’t be so harsh about it though. I live here and sometimes have trouble fathoming how small it is. I can’t really expect folks who have never traveled outside of Europe, or maybe not even outside of England, to actually be able to understand just how vast the US is.

Next post… The horrors of the DVLA…