Crossfire (Dallas)

And so to the real Texan dinner.

This post is named after a Stevie Ray Vaughn song, one of Texas' own.

We couldn’t leave Texas without eating a steak, a buffalo steak.  I Googled the ‘best steakhouse in Dallas” and the number 1 hit was not within walking distance, but number 2 most certainly was: the YO Steakhouse in the West End.  It was still very warm as we walked the 800m to the restaurant.

They greeted us like long lost friends as they do in the States, our request of a table for 2 was met with, “We have just the table for you.”  In hindsight, I’m not sure that wasn’t meant to be an in-joke.  We were led outside and seated, the server arrived expeditiously and gave us our menus and time to read through them.  We speculated as to whether we had made a good choice, sitting under trees has disadvantages.  When the server returned he assured us it wouldn’t be a problem, even when Jayne showed him the fresh bird poo on her menu.  We decided to stay put and ordered our buffalo steaks with a Texan sangiovese.

The food was lovely, if somewhat expensive, and the wine was the same.  All was going well until we neared dusk when all the birds of the city began returning to the trees around us.  In massive number.  At one stage the maitre d’ came out and clapped some menu books together and they all took flight.  Peace and quiet, momentarily.   They soon returned and were as raucous as before.  And they kept coming, in waves that blocked out the sunset.  I started looking for Tipi Hedron (Google it Gen Y) as the debris commenced falling from the trees.  In a moment of chivalry I swapped seats with Jayne so she could be, at least partially, sheltered from agent orange like aftermath of the arrival of the birds.

Our dessert arrived, (as did more of our feathered friends), demonstrating the great interest shown in us by the wait staff was as false as the welcome we received.  We received the wrong desserts because we had changed seats.  Leaf litter continued to fall, we both ditched our glasses of water due to the floaties and debris.  Thankfully the wine was finished.  We ate our desserts quickly, but not before the friendly natives had left matching epaulettes of bird poo on each of my shoulders.  The price of gallantry.

The announcement over the speaker on the plane, “and your captain today is Captain Kirk” I didn’t hear his second name.  Given the trouble Captain Kirk always found himself in on Star Trek I’m not sure that means we’ll have a smooth flight.  I’m on the lookout for tractor beams and Klingons.

Things I learned in Dallas:

1    1.   It’s big and shiny and new.  There seem to be two iterations of Dallas, the older historical side and the new, corporate, mirror-glass entity.  The city itself is vast and given the amount of high-rise, relatively unpopulated.  There were no crowds, anywhere with the possible exception of the State Fair.

2    2.  If LA is “a great big freeway” so is Dallas.  Freeway building and general construction is going on everywhere.

3   3.  Everyone here is friendly and ultra-polite, no exceptions.  Except maybe the cab driver we had from the airport who didn’t utter a word all the way to the hotel.  Strangers are likely to strikeup a conversation and tell you things you didn't really want to know.

4   4.  There is definitely an underclass that exists if you stray outside of the city surrounds.  The Greyhound Bus Depot and West End light rail station demonstrate this clearly.

5   5.  The police presence in the city area is very visible – on foot, on segues, in cars, they were everywhere.

6   6.  There were times I felt like I was living in an American sitcom with people around me all playing their stereotypic roles.

Back to economy class for the three hour flight to Newark.  The upgrade to First class was only $135 each, which is looking very attractive now as I sit crammed against the window trying to get some thoughts down.  The person in front or behind is a heavy smoker and that is pretty much all I can smell.  Choice, as they say.  For a three hour flight in the front of the plane the extra $135 was questionable, until you look at the other costs.  Checked baggage was an extra $25, priority check-in was an extra $15 and food was complimentary in First class too.  Priority check-in also meant you didn’t have to queue at the security check – wished I’d known that before I declined the upgrade.  So, really, an upgrade to First only cost around $80 with food – absolutely worth it from I am currently sitting.

As the plane climbed to cruising altitude the air that we breathe was quite visible, moreso than when we arrived three days ago.  The entire horizon was shrouded in a purple haze (cue Jimi Hendrix).  At what point is any generation of people on this planet going to take its degradation seriously?  Air pollution, climate change, destruction and degradation of habitats across the world in the name of money/progress/commerce/jobs (insert whichever is applicable in your situation), when will act?  We only have one planet and I’d like to be sure that we are leaving it in good condition for children and grand children.