Yes, black pudding is indeed made of blood (yuck!).
Yvonne - In the US, sales tax on grocery items is regulated on the state level.
I know! Makes it even harder for visitors from another land who are travelling around from state to state - fly-drive holidays being one of the most popular ways to visit the US. You don't know what the tax rate is, and you haven't a clue as to which goods and services it's charged on and what's tax-free. Mostly, it's not that big a deal, but when you're at the airport on the way home and you want to get rid of your loose change by buying a few sweeties etc, it's a pain <g>.
Tipping, Lynn? Yup, my favourite bit is when you've just arrived at your hotel, and reception *insists* on sending someone up with you to your room to help with the bags. He gives you this half-baked tour of the room, telling you stuff which would have been far more fun to figure out for yourself, and then you're into the tipping stand-off. You've got nothing but large-denomination bills in your purse, because you just arrived and you haven't bought anything yet, so you thank him for his help and let him go without any money changing hands whatsoever, and then you close the door feeling about one inch high for being so horribly mean.
We got caught out in Florida once, because we'd becomes so wary of the tipping scenario that we refused point-blank to accept any help with our bags. We soldiered out into the hot, dark night, weary from our flight and longish drive to St Pete's beach - only to discover that because it was a resort-style hotel with greenery, streams, bridges and swimming pools around every corner, it was practically impossible to find the room! For once, we actually needed the irritating bell-boy service. Picture two travel-weary, bedraggled women wandering around acres and acres of resort hotel in the pitch dark, dragging heavy cases behind them and dodging giggly children and adults who were having fun in the umpteen swimming pools. I'm sorry, but these people had absolutely no right to be enjoying themselves while we were suffering <bg>.
But this is way off topic and probably more than anyone wanted to know.
Yvonne
