Relocating to a new country can means all sorts of challenges when it comes to communicating, cultural, language and social differences all conspire to increase the “foreign” feeling – so when we moved to the USA from the UK, we assumed it would be easy. Same language, common history, similar culture; how wrong we were…
Arriving in Las Vegas a few weeks ahead of the family gave me time to look at property, sort out the car and generally get to know the place before Lynn and our two teenage boys arrived.
I stayed at the Platinum Hotel on E Flamingo, just off the strip and close to Bally’s and The Westin. It was a non-casino hotel, not that I’m a gambler, but these places tend to be a bit quieter than the resort venues. One evening, sat in the bar I found myself sitting next to a very big guy who was attending a Property Conference at the Venetian.
Studying a large Jack n Coke, he looked tired and lost in the crowded bar all by himself...
“busy day…?” I asked him…
“yeah maaaaaaannn, wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy tooooooooooooo looooong…”
He gently shook his head, eyes staring at the back of the bar as he breathed out slowly for what seemed like an eternity.
His deep drawn-out Southern states accent was like treacle sliding down a warm knife, slow continuous, dark, and gooey – at least to my newly arrived English ears, fresh from Shropshire in the UK…
I was immediately transported to a Western Bar circa 1870, with Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Butch and Sundance in a dusty frontier town with whisky shots and spittoons…
We got talking – he couldn’t understand every word I said, in fact he was highly amused when I said “Tomato” and couldn’t contain himself when I told him how we say Banana and Aluminium – I quickly learned that my accent would be a point of novelty to many Americans who would point at cars and ask me what I called the Hood, Trunk, Windshield et al.
And I couldn’t get every word he said – it was English bit modified, slurred rounded into a continuous drawl – and he didn’t seem to have to pause for breath either…
Anyway, I thought I’d take the opportunity of asking for his advice, after all he was a property expert, and I was new to all this…
“We are moving to Vegas, wife two teenagers and – any top tips for me when it comes to property…?”
He looked at me over the rim of the Jack n Coke, checking me out as if I was from another planet.
“Allll yaaaaaalll gotta lieyuv in a gaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyd community man, yaaaaaaaallll just gotta…”
After deciphering the words I was slightly taken aback…
“Why would we want to do that…?” “Yaaaaaallllll come over heeeere from lil ol England, take my word it’s gaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyd community every day….”
So the conversation moved on, we went our separate ways and I phoned my wife Lynn in the UK…
“Got some advice about property – we have got to live in a gay community…”
Lynn - “Are you sure…?”
“Trust me got it on good advice from this guy in the bar…”
Lynn - “Those Americans are crazy…”
The next day I called Remax the Realtors, in fact I went to their shop close to Desert Shores to ask what they had available..
“Mornin’ Sir, how can I help you today..?”
Me - “Moving to Vegas with my family, looking for a 4 bed house, but it must be in a gay community, what have you got…?”
“We don’t have any gay communities in Vegas that I know of…”
Me – “well that’s the advice I was given…”
After a few questions we discovered that apparently the guidance wasn’t to live in a gay community, it was in fact to live in a "Gated Community"…
So we settled on a fabulous house in the Desert Shores areas of Las Vegas, just next to Lake Jacqueline in a very secure and safe – "Gated Community"…
The USA and the UK really are two countries separated by a common language
Bio
His role is to sit alongside you, working on your business with you to enable you to achieve the goals and dreams you started out with...
Business can be Fun, Rewarding and Exciting; it can also be Difficult, Challenging and Frustrating...
In his career, he run companies in the Logistics, Engineering, Aviation, and Manufacturing sectors, and run them for himself in the Transport, Recruitment and Consulting fields...
If having someone with you to share ideas, plan and strategise with as well as be a confidant, cheerleader and accountability partner would add value and pace to your business then you can should him...