Thursday, July 17, 2003

Well I'm late again, but it's been a busy month. First-up, I turned thirty---with the help of a surprise party courtesy of Wendy, Matt and Mary. Then there was camping at the Lost Creek Wilderness, buying a car ("Gerald the GTI"), checking out the Garden of the Gods, some baseball... I went to Hannah and Andy's wedding, too. And not to forget, of course, the source of today's Englishman in Colorado wonderment: I went to my first ever drive-in bank. And I'm not just talking about a drive-in cashpoint; this was an entire full-service bank where you didn't have to get out of your car. So you drive up and kind of speak into this post thing, and a disembodied voice tells you to put your money, chequebook, ID, deposit slip, whatever, into this capsule wotsit. Then you sit the capsule in a little alcove in the post, whereupon a little door closes in front of the alcove and the capsule disappears, sucked down a tube to God knows where. A couple of minutes later it's sucked into reappearance and now contains your receipt, cheque, money, whatever, and the little alcove door opens. "Thanks for using Wells Fargo", says the voice, and you drive off. Weird!