(no subject)

I spent most of the nineties in a quiet working-class district in East London, called Leyton. Today I heard that a car repair shop a few block from my old address, and which I knew very well by sight, had been turning out illegal weapons including somes - like guns disguised as pencils and cigarette lighters - that would look well in a movie. I always did wonder how that shop managed to stay afloat.

Americans eat paper and ink, dollar bills, bureaucratic paralysis

Seriously. They must feed on them. That is the only explanation of their business practices. A British or Italian translation agency will get in touch, describe the job, ask whether I'm available, and leave me to it till delivery. But with Americans, I am not even allowed to read the document before I have got through two or three pieces of formal, elaborate paperwork; which, given that most outsourced translation work tends to be needed urgently, can be a nuisance. I recently had to give up a last-minute job because the damned paperwork was cutting into it too much.