The American stranger

He slowly got on the bus, made a big smile at the bus driver, clearly articulated a "Bonjour, Monsieur" and preceded to saunter slowly without any hurry at all to a seat towards the middle of the bus. This medium-height burly man had very short uniformly cut ash-blond hair, short-enough to be practical and masculine but not enough to make any kind of fashion statement whatsoever. He was a conformist lacking any given style. Very cleanly shaved, probably with an electric razor, no sideburns, round eyeglasses with thin wire frames, no rings, no watch, no necklace. He wore the same white collar pinstriped shirt all Engineers do (I guess that's the best profession to guess) the type with a pocket to the right with a blue and red bic pen popping out. They were meticulously tucked into his non brand name black dungarees. But oh, let's not forget those Alaskan wilderness boots, the knee high clod hoppers that weigh 100 pounds and can brave any snowdrift. Last but not least, he sported an olive-green puffy winter coat that he wore open but it was so baggy it could have wrapped it around himself almost twice. He had a burgundy land's end bag strapped around his shoulder, probably with a laptop inside....

Well, I've tried to describe this guy in as much detail as possible cause the minute I saw him I knew, just knew, and was 100% sure he was an American. For the last 3 hours I've been wondering why.... What was it? Are people so transparent? Do we just ooze bits of information about ourselves constantly? I don't want to believe that... but at the same time I smell Americans in Europe. Yes, I know, Americans come in all sizes and all colors and have every kind of look or style imaginable. That's what throws me! I guess maybe every "set trait" above, isolated and analysed apart could be French, Spanish, American, Russian etc. etc. but always maybe a tiny percentage point more common in Amercans.... But I don't know, I'm not a scientist. It'd be a great thesis for someone though. I'll give my take on it, my instinct... Frenchmen don't smile and say "Bonjour, Monsieur" to the bus driver, he's not a friend, and even if he were they'd have said "Bonsoir" by that time of day. Next, the French have some kind of look, consciently thought out, and even if they don't have one, that's thought out too so as to give an illusion of having no look. Never just whatever! So that kind of hair cut, less common... So cleanly shaved... also less common... Being so burly for no reason.... he obviously wasn't a fireman nor a bodybuilder.... less common. Many French guys are anorexic by American standards. What else? Those clothes, all mixed up, and I guess I haven't seen them in the shops over here, but in general, a bit too clean-cut. Also such a happy smiley attitude for a cold winter day... much rarer here. Carrying a computer too... He's a yankee, for sure. Parts of him remind me of a Southern Baptist preacher mixed with 1950's McCarthy-ism, a bit of serial killer, good ole boy and a dose of Bill Gates mixed with cheese farmer. Lets not the dash forget road raging SUV driver who has switched to driving a hybrid and collecting his own rainwater in a barrel. An archetype? God help us all. The type I've always avoid but now am strangely nostalgic for. Maybe there's some of him in me too. Oh là là!
Rontay