February 22, 2023 • 38 mins
In Episode 46, Michael and Julian talk about
1. Memphis. Music, museums, and ducks. We also talk about Marc Cohn's Walking in Memphis
2. American Trucks. Julian loves a truck and speculates why there are over 50 million on American roads
Other Show Notes
Learn more about how America's culture developed in Julian Bishop's High, Wide, and Handsome.
Available here to buy as a paperback, ebook, or audiobook
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Michael Moran (00:16):
Welcome to Episode 46. Julian, how are
things been with you?
Julian Bishop (00:21):
I've been pretty good weather. It's been
excellent. been kayaking a fewtimes been on the beach played a
lot of tennis. What about you?
How's your summer weather?
Michael Moran (00:31):
Well, we haven't missed out on you know that it
is getting lighter. And you cansee the first signs of spring
they have to report. It's been asevere wind kit and my God has
been decimated. Most things aredead, which is the first time in
20 odd years. And I was going tocatch New Year's resolutions,
you know, with great excitement.
I told you that the I'd beenselected from one of many to
(00:51):
participate in the NHS obesityprogram. Which I clicked on the
app. I think calling it the bigno, no, I think it's fatty to
the world you'd like but anyway,click on the app here. Nothing.
Not a dickey birth. All thatpreparation. Answer the
(01:13):
question. Nothing. Do you?
Julian Bishop (01:17):
So you haven't lost any weight yet?
Michael Moran (01:21):
But I've started drinking non alcoholic wine.
Julian. Is it good? Yeah. Likeit's good. Yeah. Why content?
Value hasn't gone down. Butalcohol content has gone down
and less calories. So that'sgood. What about you? Are you
still keeping up with all yourhealthy exercises? Yes,
everything is good. Okay, good.
Good. Okay. So, before we kickinto today, we're going to talk
(01:43):
about Memphis. And we're goingto talk about why Merck is like
big joke. So shall we move on toMemphis? Yes. You've been there.
I haven't. At this stage. I cansay there were three things I
know about Memphis.
Julian Bishop (01:58):
Oh, what are those three things, Mike? Well,
Michael Moran (02:00):
of course the can you go to go to Graceland to see
Elvis's house? Yes. The secondone is where Martin Luther
King's assassinated. That'sright. And the third thing is,
you probably don't know moreCohn. We know share. Walking in
Memphis is one of my favoritesongs.
Julian Bishop (02:17):
I both know who Marc Cohn is and love that song
myself.
Michael Moran (02:22):
Yeah. So that's the sum total of my knowledge on
Memphis. But you know,
Julian Bishop (02:26):
a little bit more than that, if you know the
lyrics to that song, but we'llprobably do. So well. Let's go
through some of it. And so whatare your impressions about
Memphis city that you'd like tovisit?
Michael Moran (02:38):
Yes, I would like to go and see Graceland. Me but
is there anything else to see?
In Memphis? Once you've doneGraceland, and I need to I need
to be convinced of that. I wouldgo go see Graceland. But I'm not
sure I would go see anythingelse other than what you're
going to convince me now?
Julian Bishop (02:57):
Well, let's deal with the negative first, and
then we'll come on to thepositive. Okay, so Memphis is a
impoverished city. When wevisited a few years ago, I've
never seen so many cameras,which are monitoring what people
are doing within that city. Theyare absolutely everywhere. And
(03:17):
then the other feature was,there was almost no one else in
the city. We had rented a placeright in the city center right
near the baseball stadium. Wecould see the baseball from, you
know, from our accommodation.
And we looked to go and buysomething from the nearest
supermarket and it said that thenearest supermarket was six
miles away. Flush, it sits onthe Mississippi River. And it
(03:38):
used to be a very vibrant city.
But really in the last centuryor so it has really declined a
lot. There is a an element toMemphis which is has quite a lot
of crime. And indeed, on the wayback from Grace lands were gray
sinuses out of town, think sortof south of Memphis, and we
(04:01):
instead of taking the freewayback into town, we sort of took
the more direct route wherepeople lived and Oh, my
goodness, that was very poor.
You know, there was scarcely ahouse without a sofa on the
front, on the front yard. Sure.
The roofs were leaking andbroken. And yeah, and obviously
I've seen that type of thing inAmerica, but I've never seen so
(04:23):
much of it in one place. Yeah,so that's kind of the negative
of it. And of course, a coupleof weeks ago we had or maybe
it's bit longer now. Try Nicholswho was the man who was
handcuffed and beaten up by byfive police officers for three
minutes and then subsequentlydied. And it doesn't surprise me
(04:44):
that they had lots of videofootage of that because there
was so many cameras therebecause the police themselves
have cameras. That's thenegative side of it, that it's
less safe than other cities. Idon't know what the statistics
are, but it feels that it's alittle bit less safe, positive
side it, it has a lot offantastic things to do. And in
fact many of them are mentionedin in the song that you
(05:07):
mentioned earlier by Marc Cohnwalking in Memphis. He talks
about walking on Beale Street,okay. And Beale Street is one of
the music streets there, wherethere are lots of blues music
that you can go and listen to.
So it's a little bit likeNashville on Nashville is to
country music. Beale Street isfor blues music. And then there
are some studios where Elvis didmost of his recording the Stax
(05:31):
Museum of American soul music,which is based there, Graceland
space there. I think in the songhe talks about the ghost of
Elvis came out while he wasthere. And I think and then
finally, the last thing hementions, he talks about the
Reverend Green, did you figureout what that was a reference
(05:52):
to?
Michael Moran (05:53):
Not at all? Not at all.
Julian Bishop (05:55):
So Reverend Green is Al Green. Okay. Yeah, who is
the 60s and 70s singer who didLet's stay together on How Can
You Mend a Broken Heart andother songs like that. And he
has a reverence now. And he hashis own church, which is the
full gospel tabernacle church.
And that is a great thing to do.
(06:16):
If you happen to be there on aSunday, that's a great thing to
go along to is quite long churchservices, but you get all of
that gospel music, you know, Iwould say, if you're really into
your music, then Memphis is areally good place to go to.
Because there are so many sortsof different aspects that you
can enjoy that music. And Ithink actually, if you were
(06:38):
doing a, you know, a city tourof Nashville, Memphis and New
Orleans, that's a lot of musicthat you can take in one trip.
And if you really like yourmusic, you would enjoy that
experience.
Michael Moran (06:50):
Although when you say like your music, you presume
we're talking blues, and maybeso
Julian Bishop (06:55):
not all of it will be pure blues music, you
know, much of it will be kind ofrock and roll type music. And of
course, they've got greathistory there. Because there are
so many, you know, Elvis and BBKing and Johnny Cash and Roy
Orbison, they all they allrecorded in Memphis. So you
know, you've got a long historyof, of great music, that you've
(07:16):
no reference
Michael Moran (07:17):
architecture, that you've not referenced parks
or Botanical Gardens, you know,which I like that. I mean, get
the point you're making about ifyou're into music, but I'm not
hearing a
Julian Bishop (07:28):
lot of others.
And the next thing I would sayis the place where you mentioned
earlier on when Martin LutherKing was assassinated, which is
the Lorraine Motel, he wasstaying at the Lorraine Motel,
and they have converted thatmotel into the National Civil
Rights Museum. And it is a trulyexcellent Museum, which talks
about civil rights with anemphasis on Memphis. And
(07:51):
eventually the museumculminates. And you can see
where Martin Luther King, thehotel room that he was staying,
and you can see where he wasassassinated. And that is a
truly excellent Museum, it justdoes an excellent job at
describing the path towardsgreater civil rights within
Memphis.
Michael Moran (08:13):
And what do you meet your top five museums,
because you're an aficionado ofmuseums? Oh, and you're
Julian Bishop (08:19):
probably not make my top five. But it's a very
memorable gaseum because topfive, you know, you've got
Vatican Museum and you fit seeand you know, there's a lot of
great museums around the world.
It is a great museum, but maybenot quite top five. It just is
very interesting to see a museumfrom the perspective of civil
rights and just really focusingon that, you know, some of the
(08:43):
challenges that they have beenin, in in getting greater rights
for, you know, a big chunk ofthe population. They also in
Memphis have a museum I didn'tgo to, but I wished I had gone
to called the slave hated fun.
Underground Railway Museum. Youknow what the underground
railway was?
Michael Moran (09:03):
No, I don't. But you know, me I like railway. So
yeah, well go forth. And
Julian Bishop (09:08):
you do like railways, railroad is a little
bit misleading. But it was themechanism by which they
transported and accommodatedpeople as they as they move
towards safety. Okay, I didn'tgo to that museum. If you think
about that process of gettingsomebody to safety. You know,
there's a lot of bravery thatwent on and getting people to
(09:30):
safety. If you're interested inin civil rights. I think Memphis
is a good place to go to youasked about Botanical Gardens,
they have a very good botanicalgardens there. They have a zoo,
and they also have a minorleague baseball stadium. Plenty
of other sort of normal Americanthings to do. They also have an
island. The Mississippi Rivergoes through Memphis, Memphis is
(09:54):
to one side of the MississippiRiver. There's an island on the
Mississippi called Mud Island.
Which within it has a model ofthe Mississippi River, you can
trace that Mississippi River. Ithink they've got a museum now,
which I don't really remembermuch about. There was I think
was a mono rail maybe. Whichtook you over to this island.
(10:15):
And we thought that was kind ofcool as well. Finally, the last
thing that we did, and this maysound very naff, but we really
liked it. Have you heard of thePeabody Hotel? Michael?
Michael Moran (10:29):
Yes, I have no one ever heard of it? The
people? I
Julian Bishop (10:32):
don't know. But if you do go there, I recommend
that you stay there. We didn'tstay there because we rented an
apartment next to the baseballstadium. But they have one very
sort of cute feature
Michael Moran (10:44):
ducks, is it ducks? I didn't know. And they
come down at a certain time ofdate only. And they walk through
the hotel
Julian Bishop (10:54):
on the on the roof of the hotel, there's a
place where the ducks live. Andthen at 11 o'clock, they leave
their home, they walk towardsthe elevator. I'm assuming that
there's somebody who presses thebutton for the ground floor for
the lobby, because I'm not surebut ducks would reach that the
(11:14):
elevator goes down towards thelobby, the doors open and these
ducks parade out into the bigfountain water area in the
middle of the lobby. And thenthey play there. And then they
stay there until 5pm When it'stime for them to go home. And
they just make their way theother way. Go up the elevator to
(11:36):
their home on the on the top. Sothat happens every day. It's
quite a big tourist event. Whenwe were there. There were plenty
of other tourists who wereenjoying the spectacle of these
small arts, you know, makingtheir way to the play fountain
in the middle of the lobby. Soif you are there, strong
recommendation that you go tothe Peabody Hotel
Michael Moran (11:58):
lobby, or ducks or whatever
Julian Bishop (12:00):
are they a mallard is type of ducks. Yeah,
I think that is the type of duckthat they are mallards,
Michael Moran (12:06):
you admitted now purely on that, but I'll, I'll
I'll give you that on itsuniqueness score. assuming
there's gonna be many hotelsthat do that.
Julian Bishop (12:16):
There's something quite cute seeing these mallards
waddle. You know, they'reobviously quite pleased to be
playing in some water, and it'ssomething they do every day.
It's a really good experience.
And I think only the mostcynical person would fail to
enjoy that.
Michael Moran (12:31):
And the Americans find a way of getting the ducks
or sponsor some of the littledog. waistcoats was very stolen
from our corporate sponsor.
Julian Bishop (12:42):
I think in normal circumstances, it would be a
very faded old hotel in themiddle of a city. Memphis has
definitely seen better days. AndI think they use it as a
mechanism to get people to cometo the hotel. But there's
nothing written on thesemallards back saying, you know,
Michael Moran (12:58):
missed the opportunity there. Julian,
you've missed an opportunity.
But they
Julian Bishop (13:01):
are using it to promote their hotel. And I think
there is some merchandise thatyou can buy with hotel and the
ducks pictures of the ducks on.
Michael Moran (13:13):
Chinese takeaway?
Julian Bishop (13:15):
Yeah, that's right. Or I don't know, some
bank or something with urgingyou to pay the bill or
something.
Michael Moran (13:23):
I knew the public about that. So how long have you
stayed? Because it doesn't seemto me that's a weak state.
Julian Bishop (13:30):
Oh, it's definitely not a weak state.
Definitely an hour weeks,
Michael Moran (13:33):
three days, and I think you're saying combine it
with the Nashville experienceand the news in New Orleans.
Julian Bishop (13:40):
If you're in some music, do the three do the
three, Nashville, Memphis andNew Orleans. But the lots of
things just outside Memphis,which are worth doing as well.
Just the other side of theMississippi River. There's
Arkansas, plenty of old housesthat you can visit there. And
then Arkansas has a lot ofcountry type pursuits, just
(14:03):
south of there is the is thestate of Mississippi and you've
got Mississippi River State Parkand go to Little Rock in
Arkansas, an hour and a halfaway I think something like that
Jackson, which is the capsule,the Mississippi which is a nice
little capitol. So there's awhole bunch of things that you
can do, which are you know,worthy of your time. There's
(14:25):
quite a lot of there's someIndian burial mounds there show
the Cherokee Indians used toused to occupy kind of moat the
loss of the south of the USuntil they were moved on in the
early 19th century. And thetrailer tears so you know,
there's quite a few of thosetype of things that you can do.
(14:46):
So you know, whether it's a youknow, a longer sort of two week
tour that you have or you'vejust got a you know, week having
an emphasis you know, two threeday parts of that. Most people
would get good for Are you fromthat
Michael Moran (15:01):
book? Remind me, Gilliam? Certainly, if you're
doing Nashville, Memphis and NewOrleans, that's quite a big
drive in here. And the reason Isay that is when we went to
Nashville, because the belovedthat she asked me to say this on
the podcast, really wants to goto Graceland. And so was giving
me a lot of sort of, can we goto grayscale? But actually, when
(15:22):
I looked at the mile,
Julian Bishop (15:23):
it's about four hours away. Yes. Tennessee is a
very odd shape. It's not a verytall state, but it's a very wide
state. Yeah, yeah. I'm actuallyNashville's, kind of in the
middle. Memphis is right on theon the westerly side of the
state. The other side goes along way as well. So for British
(15:44):
people not used to driving forus. It's a long drive for
Americans a four hour drive isnothing.
Michael Moran (15:51):
Yeah. So is it a school child? Well, I was just
Julian Bishop (15:54):
going to make one other observation. When I was
there, the thought which keptoccurring to me was, why is this
place so poor? When the placethat I lived at the time, which
was Atlanta, is actuallycomparatively rich? You know, I
remember looking it up on theway back, you know, trying to
answer that question. And it'snot obvious because, you know,
(16:18):
Memphis has a massive rivergoing through it. Atlanta has
nothing really had a railwaypart from that. It doesn't have
a lot of advantages, but Atlantawas a lot richer than Memphis.
And I think part of it isbecause of the way that the two
different cities have respondedto, to dealing with the
(16:40):
inequities of, of slavery. Youknow, I think in Atlanta, you
know, the politicians that hadlands that have had been a lot
better at working together todevelop the city than those in
Memphis. As a result, Atlanta isrich, it has all this fantastic
infrastructure, like the world'slargest airport, and, you know,
(17:03):
all of those types of things.
And whereas Memphis really isnot very rich at all. I mean,
they have suburbs in Memphis,which are a bit richer, but the
Center of Memphis and many ofthe suburbs are, you know, dirt
poor.
Michael Moran (17:17):
The point you made earlier about feeling
unsafe mean, just checking outon on Wikipedia. I think it's
the ranked the second mostdangerous city with a population
of over half a million. So youknow, and you look at the crime
figures, that does that preventpeople moving their businesses
(17:37):
moving there, whereas there aresay the quality of life in
Atlanta. perceptually is muchhigher.
Julian Bishop (17:43):
Yes, yeah. I certainly wouldn't live in
Memphis, but I would have noqualms at all about going to
Memphis again. Yeah, I to behonest, I found the city center
relatively safe because no onewas there. I certainly would be
a little bit more careful aboutwhere I drove next time. Yeah.
So yeah, in terms of a score,and I think Memphis is is a
(18:07):
better city to visit thanAtlanta. I think I gave Atlanta
three and I think I will giveMemphis a four score, I think is
for a couple of days. It hassome really good stuff that is
worth seeing. So if you have youknow, just the space for an AF a
weekend, that will be a goodplace to go to for a weekend or
(18:28):
if you wanted to make it part ofa bigger trip. Definitely go and
stop in in Memphis. There'splenty to do that. And of
course, you'll be helping thelocal economy
Michael Moran (18:39):
before we move on. We already covered
Graceland. And I'm assuming sortof round the other plenty of
hotels. People are just going tosee Elvis's house. I'm assuming
it is very commercial, and youcan stay or walk away or
Julian Bishop (18:56):
there are places you can stay better nearby
Graceland itself is is not in aparticularly nice part, a safe
part of town. Okay, so there areplaces you can say and I'm sure
they've got good securityprotocols and everything. You
know, there will be placesrelatively nearby near the
freeway set up you know, whichwill have motels which will be
(19:18):
you know, pretty safe to stay.
But if I were staying in MemphisI would. I would stay in the
Center of Memphis. A lot ofMemphis appears to be empty
parking locks. You mentionedearlier on is it architecturally
pretty The answer is no. It'snot. A lot of it seems to be
knocked down and there's somesort of haphazard attempt to to
(19:40):
create a parking lot which isnot used. If I have plenty of
money I'd stay in I never lookedhow much was to stand the
Peabody out stand the Peabodyit's nice hotel if you if you'd
like staying hotels. If you likean apartment, there were plenty
of apartments next to thebaseball stadium that will
Michael Moran (19:59):
feel recommend anyone for play I've not been.
The beloved one just wants to doGraceland. So at some point I'm
sure we willI have to ask you, why did you
(20:20):
want to have a section of thepodcast on why American
Americans look crooks?
Julian Bishop (20:27):
Do you remember your friends? Yes. was
interviewed on the podcast. Andhe said something very
interesting. I think about hisbrother. Yes. Who had a truck,
the neighborhood that he livedin, there were loads of trucks,
and none of these trucks wereactually fit in the garage. Yes,
that's true garage garage. Andthat was sort of got me thinking
(20:48):
really? Well, why is it thatAmericans have trucks? Have you
driven a truck
Michael Moran (20:52):
or an American Truck? No. in the UK, we might
say it's a van. Yes, I havedrought driven vans. These
trucks are sort of have sort oftwo sets of seats in the front.
And then the stuff of the bagtoday, you see a lot of what
used to be white van man,builders, plumbers will have
these these devices, are theyobviously more popular, and
(21:15):
they're big. So for example, theChelsea tractor is still more
popular than the truck in theUK.
Julian Bishop (21:22):
Let's describe what we mean to the British
person listening about what thistype of truck is. So it's, its
full name is a pickup truck. Andit is two parts. It has a cab,
that's where people sit. Andthere's either one row of
seating or two rows of seating,I think actually, some of them
even have three rows of seating.
So that front bits called thecab and the back is called the
(21:43):
bed. And that's where you putall the cargo in. Usually, it's
it's completely open, isn't it,and you've just put whatever
you're carrying, you just put itin the back. And you said early
on, they're becoming morepopular. So it's just give you
some figures. So in America, onthe road at the moment, there
are 58 million pickup trucks
Michael Moran (22:07):
to a population where many
Julian Bishop (22:10):
there are 290 million cars on the road out of
a population of 330 millionpeople of all new vehicles that
are sold 1/5 of them are pickuptrucks
Michael Moran (22:22):
and doing the math very quickly by actually
wanting a sixth house orhouseholds have a laptop
correct?
Julian Bishop (22:29):
I think it's higher than that actually higher
than 150 8 million of them onthe road. So these are very
popular, roughly 20%. In the UK,it's less than 1%. Because as
you say, the sort of coveredwhite vans are the things which
tradesmen tend to use. And I'massuming some of that is to do
(22:50):
with how do I put thisdelicately? I think if I were
driving a truck in the UK, and Istopped at a set of traffic
lights, and not altogethercertain that I wouldn't fear
that my tools in the back of mytrucks might get stolen those
traffic lights.
Michael Moran (23:09):
I think that's a little harsh. But you're
absolutely right, the fear oftradespeople sealing, leaving
their tools in their vansovernight is real. And you'll
often see stickers, no toolsleft in the van overnight. So
I'm not sure people would beadept at getting traffic lights,
(23:31):
but for tradesmen, and it'stheir livelihood, they want
something secure and that maywell drive the fact that they
have a van where they can lookit up the difference Julian is
you're saying in the cab. Myexperience is this two O's is
very popular in the UK isnormally one row you don't you
Julian Bishop (23:49):
come on to explain that shortly. The other
thing that they have in the beda lot of trucks have the gun
cabinet in the in the beds. Haveyou seen that? You see that?
That's usually it's made ofaluminium. Yeah, that's a big
box. That's where you put yourguns.
Michael Moran (24:06):
I thought it was when tools went in there. I
didn't realize we were moving onwheels we're talking about now.
Julian Bishop (24:15):
Yes. So you might keep a hand gun in the front.
Michael Moran (24:18):
In the glove compartment you haven't gotten
Yes, that's good.
Julian Bishop (24:20):
What type of person drives a truck? Do you
think Michael?
Michael Moran (24:24):
Well, I'm only going on that conversation with
Grant. First of all the peopledriving him don't need to drive
them because actually, they'renot tradesmen. You know, they're
maybe very middle class people.
So I'm gonna make the case. Ithink this is like a male status
symbol having actually you don'tneed a truck because oil and gas
point was say like, even fourwheels you never got to do off
(24:45):
road racing or driving somehow.
He looks good on the forecourteven though you call it into
your double Garriage
Julian Bishop (24:55):
What can I say your prejudices are entirely
correct. In some data, only 15%of people who have trucks use
them for their work. Yep, 70% oftrucks never go off road 75% of
trucks have never told anything.
90% of trucks are driven by men,the average age of a truck
(25:17):
driver of a pickup truck driveris in their 40s. Most of them
are high school rather thanuniversity educated. And only 3%
of people who drive the truck ordrive a truck are from the LGBT
community. For me, it embodiesthe part of the culture of
America now that sort of questfor independence, that sort of
(25:40):
ruggedness, that sort of love ofthe outdoors. It's how Americans
like to be seen. Think I'vementioned this before, and I
think you haven't read it, youhaven't read Henry Thoreau's
Walden hat, you know. So that'sa very influential book in
American culture, written byHenry David Thoreau, in the
early part of the 19th century.
(26:04):
And it was all about hisexperiences of living as nature
intended in a cabin by the pond.
It's all about, you know, hardwork and a simple life. I mean,
actually, most of it was a bitof a fraud, because what he
didn't say is that this cabinwas only two miles from his
parents home, and people boughthim food from the nearest
grocery stores, this whole sortof American thing of outdoorsy
(26:27):
and American dream andruggedness and independence,
that appeals to men. You know,when you see the TV
advertisements for these trucks,they all sort of hitting those
points because they know whotheir audience is. That sort of
middle aged American,
Michael Moran (26:46):
this is only a very small observation, but they
go out there. And what I see onTV, actually, most of them are
living in urban areas. So we'renot living in the outdoors. And
I'm assuming I'm doing airtraffic, more typically doing
short journeys, not longjourneys.
Julian Bishop (27:01):
Yes. Well, most of them I suspect are in
suburbia, rather than urban.
Okay. I suspect, I think it'smore of a suburban thing. Have
you seen souped up trucks?
Michael Moran (27:13):
Yeah, it was huge wheels. And yeah,
Julian Bishop (27:16):
these mega wheels, you know, some, there
was one just outside our housethe other day, they put these
huge wheels on this car, therewere two women who were getting
into the car. And both of thesewomen were shorter than the
height of the wheel. And that isa struggle to get in, you know,
some of them have ladders tohelp you, you know, to help you
(27:37):
get into the cab. So there's alot of souping up of that.
Michael Moran (27:43):
Before you go on, I have to give a plug to my
gradually. And this obviously isbeing exported from the states
to the UK. So children whoattend and five, one of their
Christmas treats was going tosee monster trucks. They talk to
you describe it in the UK. Wedon't call it drive them. But
(28:03):
there are shows of these thingsand going around bouncing. And
yeah, who's got the biggestwheels to the average fight will
tell you all that is a dream tohave such a truck like that. You
will see them on the road. Wewill see you in the Monster
Truck Show.
Julian Bishop (28:20):
Yeah, you see them on the road here as well.
And I've never been to one ofthose sorts of monster truck
rallies, but they're alsopopular here. And I imagine that
mostly men are attending.
Michael Moran (28:32):
And I'm assuming that the people who own these
vehicles, probably conservationand economically. What's the
word sort of petrol gasperspective? And not that
worried about consumption? Wouldthat be fair?
Julian Bishop (28:49):
I think it used to be fair, but I don't think
it's true anymore. I think Iread somewhere and I'm not sure
I've got the statistics.
Exactly. Right. But I think I'veread that the emissions in 2009
for these trucks 20 timesgreater than the emissions of a
truck produced today. Yeah, thatsort of segment of the industry
is really cleaned itself up.
(29:11):
There are a couple of electrictrucks now.
Michael Moran (29:15):
Oh, I was gonna say, Oh, we live a Tesla version
of these vehicles.
Julian Bishop (29:21):
We are it's called the Tesla cybertruck. And
that is Tesla's next big thing.
You know, with one in five ofall vehicles being trucks for
the last 40 something years. Thebiggest selling vehicle is the
Ford F 150. And that has beenthe biggest selling vehicle for
over 40 years. Tesla is nowgetting in on that. So they've
(29:43):
got the cybertruck coming. Fordthe Ford F 150. They also have
their electric truck which isjust about to launch as well.
And I'm assuming that RAM andSilverado have something planned
as Well, you're not going togive up a market like California
by having something which isterrible pollutant.
Michael Moran (30:06):
Okay, so my next question is these things have
been around for considerabletime.
Julian Bishop (30:10):
100 years, they
Michael Moran (30:12):
show me that they are very popular. Yeah. Why
haven't housebuilders decided tobuild gauges in which they can
fit? It seems to be a completelymismatch wherever they hide the
garbage?
Julian Bishop (30:27):
I don't know the answer to that. Maybe, given
that you're not buying a truckfor its functional value, you're
buying a truck to celebrate yourmanliness. Maybe that actually
people prefer to park theirtruck outside because it is an
ostentation of your appearance.
I don't know, though, I'm justguessing. Well,
Michael Moran (30:51):
I think the whole point is, if you have one of
these jokes, is a status symbol,you have to display it. So
hiding ruin your carriagedoesn't show the objective. You
buy this draw to say, Hey, I'm areally good outbacks strong
below man. But you can also bythe way, the your viewer on the
LBGT community not buying himmay also be a state of the
(31:14):
market.
Julian Bishop (31:14):
Yes, I live in a state where trucks. So Florida
is one of the states which has alower percentage of trucks than
than average for state. So ifyou went somewhere like Wyoming,
what was said Wyoming 38% of allvehicles or trucks, Montana, 34,
North Dakota 31 38% of allvehicles being a certain type
(31:36):
that is really dominated
Michael Moran (31:37):
But in fairness, they are very rural communities.
And I'm assuming there's a lotof people that actually do use
their trucks for theirlivelihood. I mean, it's the
ones were
Julian Bishop (31:48):
more likely they're probably very good in
the snow.
Michael Moran (31:51):
Yeah, okay.
There's a reason have them alittle bit. You know, if I do
the UK one, with what we callthe Chelsea crackers, you know
what I mean? The, the RangeRovers, and they're sold on four
wheel drive, you're never goingto use four wheel drive in the
middle of Chelsea noses is astatus symbol, it's very, very
posh card we seem to have.
Julian Bishop (32:13):
One thing I would recommend is next time you come
to the US, instead of renting acar, can I suggest you rent a
truck? Sometimes the trucks arelike at the moment cars are
still, in short supply a new carstill in short supply. So
renting a truck often is thecheaper option than renting a
(32:33):
car. It is great fun. I mean,obviously if you're in a big
city, it's not easy to park. Butif you're doing a tour between
various different places, rent atruck, are enormously good fun.
And Lorna would agree with thatas well.
Michael Moran (32:47):
I would have difficulty persuading the
beloved one, given the number ofcases she brings with him and
putting him in an open truck atthe bank would be very unpopular
with him.
Julian Bishop (32:56):
She could put them in the second row Yeah.
Michael Moran (32:59):
space or in the garden cabinet.
Julian Bishop (33:02):
I would guess that most of them for rent don't
have a gun holder. A few timeswe've rented trucks rather than
them cars. And we've we'veenjoyed being fair Alpha.
Michael Moran (33:15):
Finish on the psychology of that, when you're
driving one of these thingsbillion, do you feel more manly
and more confident. And
Julian Bishop (33:21):
so one was in South Africa, that call back
east I think they're they'requite popular in South Africa. I
rented a car. I wrote I wantedto rent a car, which was manual.
Because daughter number one atthe time, she was living in
(33:42):
Malawi. And I'd gone to pick herup and then we gone for a
vacation in South Africa. Andshe'd never she driven her own
automatic car for some timenever driven a manual car. And
the only manual card that Icould get was this huge f1 word
not sure if it might have been F350 or something was a Ford
anyway. And then as we weregoing into the Zuto, which is a
(34:05):
very mountainous area, actuallyit was very useful having, you
know, having something which wasa big, powerful car, I didn't do
much for her driving, have tosay, you know, mastering the
manual gearbox,
Michael Moran (34:21):
all the other vehicles clutch as well
Julian Bishop (34:25):
all the time, because we used it throughout
our tour across South Africa.
And I was in Soweto, we'd goneto the got a great museum of
reconciliation Museum ofapartheid in Soweto. And then
I'd gone to explore in some ofthe more the different parts of
Soweto and I very, very quicklyregretted that, as I sort of
(34:47):
went into this sort of marketarea, which was you know, very
clearly I was the only personwho was not apart from my
daughter, who was white. And soI had to run this huge truck
through, you know, the hugecrowd of sweetens going about
their daily business. So yeah,it wasn't very good there. But
(35:09):
you know, when we're in Soweto,and in the more country areas,
it was a good place to drive. Weused to track when we swapped
houses in Colorado. And that wasvery useful for seeing dinosaur
excavations. When we're insouthern Texas, we rented a car
as well. And that's quite lotsof that area of our tracks
rather than roads. So on allthree occasions, didn't need a
(35:32):
truck, but they were kind of alittle,
Michael Moran (35:37):
I says, is playing to a fantasy of your
senior years.
Julian Bishop (35:41):
I don't think I would buy a truck. But as I talk
about these trucks, I'm thinkingto myself, can't we should rent
one next time we have to rent
Michael Moran (35:50):
it's a great pity the we're not recording the film
because there's a smile on yourface. Just like me talking about
railways now we've got so isthere a museum of the truck?
That's a face?
Julian Bishop (36:03):
Oh, yes. Yeah, I bet there is. But I don't know
where it is. I think Fordproduced the first truck and
about 1916 And I think Silveradojust had the 17 year anniversary
so they've been around a whileyeah.
Michael Moran (36:32):
That brings us to the close of episode 46 Julian,
I'm told we're going to do vanlife, which is a neat explain as
a trailer that then you don'tneed to explain what to do next
time is skyscrapers, Van lifeJulian
Julian Bishop (36:49):
and many Americans who travel the US and
they live in a van and they justgo to different parts of the US
depending on the season. Youknow, so for example, where I
live in which is very nice placeto live, and it's you know,
beachy and in the car parks,there's always vans that are
(37:10):
living in you know, for a fewdays in our tiny in their van
and then they take their van andthey go and travel somewhere
else.
Michael Moran (37:19):
Now, this includes the guys we saw a
Venice Beach who had motorcycleswith obviously attachments in
which they were sleeping in.
Does that include that?
Julian Bishop (37:30):
Oh, no. doesn't include that. We'll do we'll do
that another time because thatis another subset of American
culture with his bikers. Yeah,these are people who live in
their vans.
Michael Moran (37:40):
People live with a vote on that note, we'll close
episode 46 So as always, it'sgood night for me
Julian Bishop (37:47):
and it's good night from him
Unknown (38:02):
guys I'm lazy
Welcome to Episode 46. Julian, how are
things been with you?
Julian Bishop (00:21):
I've been pretty good weather. It's been
excellent. been kayaking a fewtimes been on the beach played a
lot of tennis. What about you?
How's your summer weather?
Michael Moran (00:31):
Well, we haven't missed out on you know that it
is getting lighter. And you cansee the first signs of spring
they have to report. It's been asevere wind kit and my God has
been decimated. Most things aredead, which is the first time in
20 odd years. And I was going tocatch New Year's resolutions,
you know, with great excitement.
I told you that the I'd beenselected from one of many to
(00:51):
participate in the NHS obesityprogram. Which I clicked on the
app. I think calling it the bigno, no, I think it's fatty to
the world you'd like but anyway,click on the app here. Nothing.
Not a dickey birth. All thatpreparation. Answer the
(01:13):
question. Nothing. Do you?
Julian Bishop (01:17):
So you haven't lost any weight yet?
Michael Moran (01:21):
But I've started drinking non alcoholic wine.
Julian. Is it good? Yeah. Likeit's good. Yeah. Why content?
Value hasn't gone down. Butalcohol content has gone down
and less calories. So that'sgood. What about you? Are you
still keeping up with all yourhealthy exercises? Yes,
everything is good. Okay, good.
Good. Okay. So, before we kickinto today, we're going to talk
(01:43):
about Memphis. And we're goingto talk about why Merck is like
big joke. So shall we move on toMemphis? Yes. You've been there.
I haven't. At this stage. I cansay there were three things I
know about Memphis.
Julian Bishop (01:58):
Oh, what are those three things, Mike? Well,
Michael Moran (02:00):
of course the can you go to go to Graceland to see
Elvis's house? Yes. The secondone is where Martin Luther
King's assassinated. That'sright. And the third thing is,
you probably don't know moreCohn. We know share. Walking in
Memphis is one of my favoritesongs.
Julian Bishop (02:17):
I both know who Marc Cohn is and love that song
myself.
Michael Moran (02:22):
Yeah. So that's the sum total of my knowledge on
Memphis. But you know,
Julian Bishop (02:26):
a little bit more than that, if you know the
lyrics to that song, but we'llprobably do. So well. Let's go
through some of it. And so whatare your impressions about
Memphis city that you'd like tovisit?
Michael Moran (02:38):
Yes, I would like to go and see Graceland. Me but
is there anything else to see?
In Memphis? Once you've doneGraceland, and I need to I need
to be convinced of that. I wouldgo go see Graceland. But I'm not
sure I would go see anythingelse other than what you're
going to convince me now?
Julian Bishop (02:57):
Well, let's deal with the negative first, and
then we'll come on to thepositive. Okay, so Memphis is a
impoverished city. When wevisited a few years ago, I've
never seen so many cameras,which are monitoring what people
are doing within that city. Theyare absolutely everywhere. And
(03:17):
then the other feature was,there was almost no one else in
the city. We had rented a placeright in the city center right
near the baseball stadium. Wecould see the baseball from, you
know, from our accommodation.
And we looked to go and buysomething from the nearest
supermarket and it said that thenearest supermarket was six
miles away. Flush, it sits onthe Mississippi River. And it
(03:38):
used to be a very vibrant city.
But really in the last centuryor so it has really declined a
lot. There is a an element toMemphis which is has quite a lot
of crime. And indeed, on the wayback from Grace lands were gray
sinuses out of town, think sortof south of Memphis, and we
(04:01):
instead of taking the freewayback into town, we sort of took
the more direct route wherepeople lived and Oh, my
goodness, that was very poor.
You know, there was scarcely ahouse without a sofa on the
front, on the front yard. Sure.
The roofs were leaking andbroken. And yeah, and obviously
I've seen that type of thing inAmerica, but I've never seen so
(04:23):
much of it in one place. Yeah,so that's kind of the negative
of it. And of course, a coupleof weeks ago we had or maybe
it's bit longer now. Try Nicholswho was the man who was
handcuffed and beaten up by byfive police officers for three
minutes and then subsequentlydied. And it doesn't surprise me
(04:44):
that they had lots of videofootage of that because there
was so many cameras therebecause the police themselves
have cameras. That's thenegative side of it, that it's
less safe than other cities. Idon't know what the statistics
are, but it feels that it's alittle bit less safe, positive
side it, it has a lot offantastic things to do. And in
fact many of them are mentionedin in the song that you
(05:07):
mentioned earlier by Marc Cohnwalking in Memphis. He talks
about walking on Beale Street,okay. And Beale Street is one of
the music streets there, wherethere are lots of blues music
that you can go and listen to.
So it's a little bit likeNashville on Nashville is to
country music. Beale Street isfor blues music. And then there
are some studios where Elvis didmost of his recording the Stax
(05:31):
Museum of American soul music,which is based there, Graceland
space there. I think in the songhe talks about the ghost of
Elvis came out while he wasthere. And I think and then
finally, the last thing hementions, he talks about the
Reverend Green, did you figureout what that was a reference
(05:52):
to?
Michael Moran (05:53):
Not at all? Not at all.
Julian Bishop (05:55):
So Reverend Green is Al Green. Okay. Yeah, who is
the 60s and 70s singer who didLet's stay together on How Can
You Mend a Broken Heart andother songs like that. And he
has a reverence now. And he hashis own church, which is the
full gospel tabernacle church.
And that is a great thing to do.
(06:16):
If you happen to be there on aSunday, that's a great thing to
go along to is quite long churchservices, but you get all of
that gospel music, you know, Iwould say, if you're really into
your music, then Memphis is areally good place to go to.
Because there are so many sortsof different aspects that you
can enjoy that music. And Ithink actually, if you were
(06:38):
doing a, you know, a city tourof Nashville, Memphis and New
Orleans, that's a lot of musicthat you can take in one trip.
And if you really like yourmusic, you would enjoy that
experience.
Michael Moran (06:50):
Although when you say like your music, you presume
we're talking blues, and maybeso
Julian Bishop (06:55):
not all of it will be pure blues music, you
know, much of it will be kind ofrock and roll type music. And of
course, they've got greathistory there. Because there are
so many, you know, Elvis and BBKing and Johnny Cash and Roy
Orbison, they all they allrecorded in Memphis. So you
know, you've got a long historyof, of great music, that you've
(07:16):
no reference
Michael Moran (07:17):
architecture, that you've not referenced parks
or Botanical Gardens, you know,which I like that. I mean, get
the point you're making about ifyou're into music, but I'm not
hearing a
Julian Bishop (07:28):
lot of others.
And the next thing I would sayis the place where you mentioned
earlier on when Martin LutherKing was assassinated, which is
the Lorraine Motel, he wasstaying at the Lorraine Motel,
and they have converted thatmotel into the National Civil
Rights Museum. And it is a trulyexcellent Museum, which talks
about civil rights with anemphasis on Memphis. And
(07:51):
eventually the museumculminates. And you can see
where Martin Luther King, thehotel room that he was staying,
and you can see where he wasassassinated. And that is a
truly excellent Museum, it justdoes an excellent job at
describing the path towardsgreater civil rights within
Memphis.
Michael Moran (08:13):
And what do you meet your top five museums,
because you're an aficionado ofmuseums? Oh, and you're
Julian Bishop (08:19):
probably not make my top five. But it's a very
memorable gaseum because topfive, you know, you've got
Vatican Museum and you fit seeand you know, there's a lot of
great museums around the world.
It is a great museum, but maybenot quite top five. It just is
very interesting to see a museumfrom the perspective of civil
rights and just really focusingon that, you know, some of the
(08:43):
challenges that they have beenin, in in getting greater rights
for, you know, a big chunk ofthe population. They also in
Memphis have a museum I didn'tgo to, but I wished I had gone
to called the slave hated fun.
Underground Railway Museum. Youknow what the underground
railway was?
Michael Moran (09:03):
No, I don't. But you know, me I like railway. So
yeah, well go forth. And
Julian Bishop (09:08):
you do like railways, railroad is a little
bit misleading. But it was themechanism by which they
transported and accommodatedpeople as they as they move
towards safety. Okay, I didn'tgo to that museum. If you think
about that process of gettingsomebody to safety. You know,
there's a lot of bravery thatwent on and getting people to
(09:30):
safety. If you're interested inin civil rights. I think Memphis
is a good place to go to youasked about Botanical Gardens,
they have a very good botanicalgardens there. They have a zoo,
and they also have a minorleague baseball stadium. Plenty
of other sort of normal Americanthings to do. They also have an
island. The Mississippi Rivergoes through Memphis, Memphis is
(09:54):
to one side of the MississippiRiver. There's an island on the
Mississippi called Mud Island.
Which within it has a model ofthe Mississippi River, you can
trace that Mississippi River. Ithink they've got a museum now,
which I don't really remembermuch about. There was I think
was a mono rail maybe. Whichtook you over to this island.
(10:15):
And we thought that was kind ofcool as well. Finally, the last
thing that we did, and this maysound very naff, but we really
liked it. Have you heard of thePeabody Hotel? Michael?
Michael Moran (10:29):
Yes, I have no one ever heard of it? The
people? I
Julian Bishop (10:32):
don't know. But if you do go there, I recommend
that you stay there. We didn'tstay there because we rented an
apartment next to the baseballstadium. But they have one very
sort of cute feature
Michael Moran (10:44):
ducks, is it ducks? I didn't know. And they
come down at a certain time ofdate only. And they walk through
the hotel
Julian Bishop (10:54):
on the on the roof of the hotel, there's a
place where the ducks live. Andthen at 11 o'clock, they leave
their home, they walk towardsthe elevator. I'm assuming that
there's somebody who presses thebutton for the ground floor for
the lobby, because I'm not surebut ducks would reach that the
(11:14):
elevator goes down towards thelobby, the doors open and these
ducks parade out into the bigfountain water area in the
middle of the lobby. And thenthey play there. And then they
stay there until 5pm When it'stime for them to go home. And
they just make their way theother way. Go up the elevator to
(11:36):
their home on the on the top. Sothat happens every day. It's
quite a big tourist event. Whenwe were there. There were plenty
of other tourists who wereenjoying the spectacle of these
small arts, you know, makingtheir way to the play fountain
in the middle of the lobby. Soif you are there, strong
recommendation that you go tothe Peabody Hotel
Michael Moran (11:58):
lobby, or ducks or whatever
Julian Bishop (12:00):
are they a mallard is type of ducks. Yeah,
I think that is the type of duckthat they are mallards,
Michael Moran (12:06):
you admitted now purely on that, but I'll, I'll
I'll give you that on itsuniqueness score. assuming
there's gonna be many hotelsthat do that.
Julian Bishop (12:16):
There's something quite cute seeing these mallards
waddle. You know, they'reobviously quite pleased to be
playing in some water, and it'ssomething they do every day.
It's a really good experience.
And I think only the mostcynical person would fail to
enjoy that.
Michael Moran (12:31):
And the Americans find a way of getting the ducks
or sponsor some of the littledog. waistcoats was very stolen
from our corporate sponsor.
Julian Bishop (12:42):
I think in normal circumstances, it would be a
very faded old hotel in themiddle of a city. Memphis has
definitely seen better days. AndI think they use it as a
mechanism to get people to cometo the hotel. But there's
nothing written on thesemallards back saying, you know,
Michael Moran (12:58):
missed the opportunity there. Julian,
you've missed an opportunity.
But they
Julian Bishop (13:01):
are using it to promote their hotel. And I think
there is some merchandise thatyou can buy with hotel and the
ducks pictures of the ducks on.
Michael Moran (13:13):
Chinese takeaway?
Julian Bishop (13:15):
Yeah, that's right. Or I don't know, some
bank or something with urgingyou to pay the bill or
something.
Michael Moran (13:23):
I knew the public about that. So how long have you
stayed? Because it doesn't seemto me that's a weak state.
Julian Bishop (13:30):
Oh, it's definitely not a weak state.
Definitely an hour weeks,
Michael Moran (13:33):
three days, and I think you're saying combine it
with the Nashville experienceand the news in New Orleans.
Julian Bishop (13:40):
If you're in some music, do the three do the
three, Nashville, Memphis andNew Orleans. But the lots of
things just outside Memphis,which are worth doing as well.
Just the other side of theMississippi River. There's
Arkansas, plenty of old housesthat you can visit there. And
then Arkansas has a lot ofcountry type pursuits, just
(14:03):
south of there is the is thestate of Mississippi and you've
got Mississippi River State Parkand go to Little Rock in
Arkansas, an hour and a halfaway I think something like that
Jackson, which is the capsule,the Mississippi which is a nice
little capitol. So there's awhole bunch of things that you
can do, which are you know,worthy of your time. There's
(14:25):
quite a lot of there's someIndian burial mounds there show
the Cherokee Indians used toused to occupy kind of moat the
loss of the south of the USuntil they were moved on in the
early 19th century. And thetrailer tears so you know,
there's quite a few of thosetype of things that you can do.
(14:46):
So you know, whether it's a youknow, a longer sort of two week
tour that you have or you'vejust got a you know, week having
an emphasis you know, two threeday parts of that. Most people
would get good for Are you fromthat
Michael Moran (15:01):
book? Remind me, Gilliam? Certainly, if you're
doing Nashville, Memphis and NewOrleans, that's quite a big
drive in here. And the reason Isay that is when we went to
Nashville, because the belovedthat she asked me to say this on
the podcast, really wants to goto Graceland. And so was giving
me a lot of sort of, can we goto grayscale? But actually, when
(15:22):
I looked at the mile,
Julian Bishop (15:23):
it's about four hours away. Yes. Tennessee is a
very odd shape. It's not a verytall state, but it's a very wide
state. Yeah, yeah. I'm actuallyNashville's, kind of in the
middle. Memphis is right on theon the westerly side of the
state. The other side goes along way as well. So for British
(15:44):
people not used to driving forus. It's a long drive for
Americans a four hour drive isnothing.
Michael Moran (15:51):
Yeah. So is it a school child? Well, I was just
Julian Bishop (15:54):
going to make one other observation. When I was
there, the thought which keptoccurring to me was, why is this
place so poor? When the placethat I lived at the time, which
was Atlanta, is actuallycomparatively rich? You know, I
remember looking it up on theway back, you know, trying to
answer that question. And it'snot obvious because, you know,
(16:18):
Memphis has a massive rivergoing through it. Atlanta has
nothing really had a railwaypart from that. It doesn't have
a lot of advantages, but Atlantawas a lot richer than Memphis.
And I think part of it isbecause of the way that the two
different cities have respondedto, to dealing with the
(16:40):
inequities of, of slavery. Youknow, I think in Atlanta, you
know, the politicians that hadlands that have had been a lot
better at working together todevelop the city than those in
Memphis. As a result, Atlanta isrich, it has all this fantastic
infrastructure, like the world'slargest airport, and, you know,
(17:03):
all of those types of things.
And whereas Memphis really isnot very rich at all. I mean,
they have suburbs in Memphis,which are a bit richer, but the
Center of Memphis and many ofthe suburbs are, you know, dirt
poor.
Michael Moran (17:17):
The point you made earlier about feeling
unsafe mean, just checking outon on Wikipedia. I think it's
the ranked the second mostdangerous city with a population
of over half a million. So youknow, and you look at the crime
figures, that does that preventpeople moving their businesses
(17:37):
moving there, whereas there aresay the quality of life in
Atlanta. perceptually is muchhigher.
Julian Bishop (17:43):
Yes, yeah. I certainly wouldn't live in
Memphis, but I would have noqualms at all about going to
Memphis again. Yeah, I to behonest, I found the city center
relatively safe because no onewas there. I certainly would be
a little bit more careful aboutwhere I drove next time. Yeah.
So yeah, in terms of a score,and I think Memphis is is a
(18:07):
better city to visit thanAtlanta. I think I gave Atlanta
three and I think I will giveMemphis a four score, I think is
for a couple of days. It hassome really good stuff that is
worth seeing. So if you have youknow, just the space for an AF a
weekend, that will be a goodplace to go to for a weekend or
(18:28):
if you wanted to make it part ofa bigger trip. Definitely go and
stop in in Memphis. There'splenty to do that. And of
course, you'll be helping thelocal economy
Michael Moran (18:39):
before we move on. We already covered
Graceland. And I'm assuming sortof round the other plenty of
hotels. People are just going tosee Elvis's house. I'm assuming
it is very commercial, and youcan stay or walk away or
Julian Bishop (18:56):
there are places you can stay better nearby
Graceland itself is is not in aparticularly nice part, a safe
part of town. Okay, so there areplaces you can say and I'm sure
they've got good securityprotocols and everything. You
know, there will be placesrelatively nearby near the
freeway set up you know, whichwill have motels which will be
(19:18):
you know, pretty safe to stay.
But if I were staying in MemphisI would. I would stay in the
Center of Memphis. A lot ofMemphis appears to be empty
parking locks. You mentionedearlier on is it architecturally
pretty The answer is no. It'snot. A lot of it seems to be
knocked down and there's somesort of haphazard attempt to to
(19:40):
create a parking lot which isnot used. If I have plenty of
money I'd stay in I never lookedhow much was to stand the
Peabody out stand the Peabodyit's nice hotel if you if you'd
like staying hotels. If you likean apartment, there were plenty
of apartments next to thebaseball stadium that will
Michael Moran (19:59):
feel recommend anyone for play I've not been.
The beloved one just wants to doGraceland. So at some point I'm
sure we willI have to ask you, why did you
(20:20):
want to have a section of thepodcast on why American
Americans look crooks?
Julian Bishop (20:27):
Do you remember your friends? Yes. was
interviewed on the podcast. Andhe said something very
interesting. I think about hisbrother. Yes. Who had a truck,
the neighborhood that he livedin, there were loads of trucks,
and none of these trucks wereactually fit in the garage. Yes,
that's true garage garage. Andthat was sort of got me thinking
(20:48):
really? Well, why is it thatAmericans have trucks? Have you
driven a truck
Michael Moran (20:52):
or an American Truck? No. in the UK, we might
say it's a van. Yes, I havedrought driven vans. These
trucks are sort of have sort oftwo sets of seats in the front.
And then the stuff of the bagtoday, you see a lot of what
used to be white van man,builders, plumbers will have
these these devices, are theyobviously more popular, and
(21:15):
they're big. So for example, theChelsea tractor is still more
popular than the truck in theUK.
Julian Bishop (21:22):
Let's describe what we mean to the British
person listening about what thistype of truck is. So it's, its
full name is a pickup truck. Andit is two parts. It has a cab,
that's where people sit. Andthere's either one row of
seating or two rows of seating,I think actually, some of them
even have three rows of seating.
So that front bits called thecab and the back is called the
(21:43):
bed. And that's where you putall the cargo in. Usually, it's
it's completely open, isn't it,and you've just put whatever
you're carrying, you just put itin the back. And you said early
on, they're becoming morepopular. So it's just give you
some figures. So in America, onthe road at the moment, there
are 58 million pickup trucks
Michael Moran (22:07):
to a population where many
Julian Bishop (22:10):
there are 290 million cars on the road out of
a population of 330 millionpeople of all new vehicles that
are sold 1/5 of them are pickuptrucks
Michael Moran (22:22):
and doing the math very quickly by actually
wanting a sixth house orhouseholds have a laptop
correct?
Julian Bishop (22:29):
I think it's higher than that actually higher
than 150 8 million of them onthe road. So these are very
popular, roughly 20%. In the UK,it's less than 1%. Because as
you say, the sort of coveredwhite vans are the things which
tradesmen tend to use. And I'massuming some of that is to do
(22:50):
with how do I put thisdelicately? I think if I were
driving a truck in the UK, and Istopped at a set of traffic
lights, and not altogethercertain that I wouldn't fear
that my tools in the back of mytrucks might get stolen those
traffic lights.
Michael Moran (23:09):
I think that's a little harsh. But you're
absolutely right, the fear oftradespeople sealing, leaving
their tools in their vansovernight is real. And you'll
often see stickers, no toolsleft in the van overnight. So
I'm not sure people would beadept at getting traffic lights,
(23:31):
but for tradesmen, and it'stheir livelihood, they want
something secure and that maywell drive the fact that they
have a van where they can lookit up the difference Julian is
you're saying in the cab. Myexperience is this two O's is
very popular in the UK isnormally one row you don't you
Julian Bishop (23:49):
come on to explain that shortly. The other
thing that they have in the beda lot of trucks have the gun
cabinet in the in the beds. Haveyou seen that? You see that?
That's usually it's made ofaluminium. Yeah, that's a big
box. That's where you put yourguns.
Michael Moran (24:06):
I thought it was when tools went in there. I
didn't realize we were moving onwheels we're talking about now.
Julian Bishop (24:15):
Yes. So you might keep a hand gun in the front.
Michael Moran (24:18):
In the glove compartment you haven't gotten
Yes, that's good.
Julian Bishop (24:20):
What type of person drives a truck? Do you
think Michael?
Michael Moran (24:24):
Well, I'm only going on that conversation with
Grant. First of all the peopledriving him don't need to drive
them because actually, they'renot tradesmen. You know, they're
maybe very middle class people.
So I'm gonna make the case. Ithink this is like a male status
symbol having actually you don'tneed a truck because oil and gas
point was say like, even fourwheels you never got to do off
(24:45):
road racing or driving somehow.
He looks good on the forecourteven though you call it into
your double Garriage
Julian Bishop (24:55):
What can I say your prejudices are entirely
correct. In some data, only 15%of people who have trucks use
them for their work. Yep, 70% oftrucks never go off road 75% of
trucks have never told anything.
90% of trucks are driven by men,the average age of a truck
(25:17):
driver of a pickup truck driveris in their 40s. Most of them
are high school rather thanuniversity educated. And only 3%
of people who drive the truck ordrive a truck are from the LGBT
community. For me, it embodiesthe part of the culture of
America now that sort of questfor independence, that sort of
(25:40):
ruggedness, that sort of love ofthe outdoors. It's how Americans
like to be seen. Think I'vementioned this before, and I
think you haven't read it, youhaven't read Henry Thoreau's
Walden hat, you know. So that'sa very influential book in
American culture, written byHenry David Thoreau, in the
early part of the 19th century.
(26:04):
And it was all about hisexperiences of living as nature
intended in a cabin by the pond.
It's all about, you know, hardwork and a simple life. I mean,
actually, most of it was a bitof a fraud, because what he
didn't say is that this cabinwas only two miles from his
parents home, and people boughthim food from the nearest
grocery stores, this whole sortof American thing of outdoorsy
(26:27):
and American dream andruggedness and independence,
that appeals to men. You know,when you see the TV
advertisements for these trucks,they all sort of hitting those
points because they know whotheir audience is. That sort of
middle aged American,
Michael Moran (26:46):
this is only a very small observation, but they
go out there. And what I see onTV, actually, most of them are
living in urban areas. So we'renot living in the outdoors. And
I'm assuming I'm doing airtraffic, more typically doing
short journeys, not longjourneys.
Julian Bishop (27:01):
Yes. Well, most of them I suspect are in
suburbia, rather than urban.
Okay. I suspect, I think it'smore of a suburban thing. Have
you seen souped up trucks?
Michael Moran (27:13):
Yeah, it was huge wheels. And yeah,
Julian Bishop (27:16):
these mega wheels, you know, some, there
was one just outside our housethe other day, they put these
huge wheels on this car, therewere two women who were getting
into the car. And both of thesewomen were shorter than the
height of the wheel. And that isa struggle to get in, you know,
some of them have ladders tohelp you, you know, to help you
(27:37):
get into the cab. So there's alot of souping up of that.
Michael Moran (27:43):
Before you go on, I have to give a plug to my
gradually. And this obviously isbeing exported from the states
to the UK. So children whoattend and five, one of their
Christmas treats was going tosee monster trucks. They talk to
you describe it in the UK. Wedon't call it drive them. But
(28:03):
there are shows of these thingsand going around bouncing. And
yeah, who's got the biggestwheels to the average fight will
tell you all that is a dream tohave such a truck like that. You
will see them on the road. Wewill see you in the Monster
Truck Show.
Julian Bishop (28:20):
Yeah, you see them on the road here as well.
And I've never been to one ofthose sorts of monster truck
rallies, but they're alsopopular here. And I imagine that
mostly men are attending.
Michael Moran (28:32):
And I'm assuming that the people who own these
vehicles, probably conservationand economically. What's the
word sort of petrol gasperspective? And not that
worried about consumption? Wouldthat be fair?
Julian Bishop (28:49):
I think it used to be fair, but I don't think
it's true anymore. I think Iread somewhere and I'm not sure
I've got the statistics.
Exactly. Right. But I think I'veread that the emissions in 2009
for these trucks 20 timesgreater than the emissions of a
truck produced today. Yeah, thatsort of segment of the industry
is really cleaned itself up.
(29:11):
There are a couple of electrictrucks now.
Michael Moran (29:15):
Oh, I was gonna say, Oh, we live a Tesla version
of these vehicles.
Julian Bishop (29:21):
We are it's called the Tesla cybertruck. And
that is Tesla's next big thing.
You know, with one in five ofall vehicles being trucks for
the last 40 something years. Thebiggest selling vehicle is the
Ford F 150. And that has beenthe biggest selling vehicle for
over 40 years. Tesla is nowgetting in on that. So they've
(29:43):
got the cybertruck coming. Fordthe Ford F 150. They also have
their electric truck which isjust about to launch as well.
And I'm assuming that RAM andSilverado have something planned
as Well, you're not going togive up a market like California
by having something which isterrible pollutant.
Michael Moran (30:06):
Okay, so my next question is these things have
been around for considerabletime.
Julian Bishop (30:10):
100 years, they
Michael Moran (30:12):
show me that they are very popular. Yeah. Why
haven't housebuilders decided tobuild gauges in which they can
fit? It seems to be a completelymismatch wherever they hide the
garbage?
Julian Bishop (30:27):
I don't know the answer to that. Maybe, given
that you're not buying a truckfor its functional value, you're
buying a truck to celebrate yourmanliness. Maybe that actually
people prefer to park theirtruck outside because it is an
ostentation of your appearance.
I don't know, though, I'm justguessing. Well,
Michael Moran (30:51):
I think the whole point is, if you have one of
these jokes, is a status symbol,you have to display it. So
hiding ruin your carriagedoesn't show the objective. You
buy this draw to say, Hey, I'm areally good outbacks strong
below man. But you can also bythe way, the your viewer on the
LBGT community not buying himmay also be a state of the
(31:14):
market.
Julian Bishop (31:14):
Yes, I live in a state where trucks. So Florida
is one of the states which has alower percentage of trucks than
than average for state. So ifyou went somewhere like Wyoming,
what was said Wyoming 38% of allvehicles or trucks, Montana, 34,
North Dakota 31 38% of allvehicles being a certain type
(31:36):
that is really dominated
Michael Moran (31:37):
But in fairness, they are very rural communities.
And I'm assuming there's a lotof people that actually do use
their trucks for theirlivelihood. I mean, it's the
ones were
Julian Bishop (31:48):
more likely they're probably very good in
the snow.
Michael Moran (31:51):
Yeah, okay.
There's a reason have them alittle bit. You know, if I do
the UK one, with what we callthe Chelsea crackers, you know
what I mean? The, the RangeRovers, and they're sold on four
wheel drive, you're never goingto use four wheel drive in the
middle of Chelsea noses is astatus symbol, it's very, very
posh card we seem to have.
Julian Bishop (32:13):
One thing I would recommend is next time you come
to the US, instead of renting acar, can I suggest you rent a
truck? Sometimes the trucks arelike at the moment cars are
still, in short supply a new carstill in short supply. So
renting a truck often is thecheaper option than renting a
(32:33):
car. It is great fun. I mean,obviously if you're in a big
city, it's not easy to park. Butif you're doing a tour between
various different places, rent atruck, are enormously good fun.
And Lorna would agree with thatas well.
Michael Moran (32:47):
I would have difficulty persuading the
beloved one, given the number ofcases she brings with him and
putting him in an open truck atthe bank would be very unpopular
with him.
Julian Bishop (32:56):
She could put them in the second row Yeah.
Michael Moran (32:59):
space or in the garden cabinet.
Julian Bishop (33:02):
I would guess that most of them for rent don't
have a gun holder. A few timeswe've rented trucks rather than
them cars. And we've we'veenjoyed being fair Alpha.
Michael Moran (33:15):
Finish on the psychology of that, when you're
driving one of these thingsbillion, do you feel more manly
and more confident. And
Julian Bishop (33:21):
so one was in South Africa, that call back
east I think they're they'requite popular in South Africa. I
rented a car. I wrote I wantedto rent a car, which was manual.
Because daughter number one atthe time, she was living in
(33:42):
Malawi. And I'd gone to pick herup and then we gone for a
vacation in South Africa. Andshe'd never she driven her own
automatic car for some timenever driven a manual car. And
the only manual card that Icould get was this huge f1 word
not sure if it might have been F350 or something was a Ford
anyway. And then as we weregoing into the Zuto, which is a
(34:05):
very mountainous area, actuallyit was very useful having, you
know, having something which wasa big, powerful car, I didn't do
much for her driving, have tosay, you know, mastering the
manual gearbox,
Michael Moran (34:21):
all the other vehicles clutch as well
Julian Bishop (34:25):
all the time, because we used it throughout
our tour across South Africa.
And I was in Soweto, we'd goneto the got a great museum of
reconciliation Museum ofapartheid in Soweto. And then
I'd gone to explore in some ofthe more the different parts of
Soweto and I very, very quicklyregretted that, as I sort of
(34:47):
went into this sort of marketarea, which was you know, very
clearly I was the only personwho was not apart from my
daughter, who was white. And soI had to run this huge truck
through, you know, the hugecrowd of sweetens going about
their daily business. So yeah,it wasn't very good there. But
(35:09):
you know, when we're in Soweto,and in the more country areas,
it was a good place to drive. Weused to track when we swapped
houses in Colorado. And that wasvery useful for seeing dinosaur
excavations. When we're insouthern Texas, we rented a car
as well. And that's quite lotsof that area of our tracks
rather than roads. So on allthree occasions, didn't need a
(35:32):
truck, but they were kind of alittle,
Michael Moran (35:37):
I says, is playing to a fantasy of your
senior years.
Julian Bishop (35:41):
I don't think I would buy a truck. But as I talk
about these trucks, I'm thinkingto myself, can't we should rent
one next time we have to rent
Michael Moran (35:50):
it's a great pity the we're not recording the film
because there's a smile on yourface. Just like me talking about
railways now we've got so isthere a museum of the truck?
That's a face?
Julian Bishop (36:03):
Oh, yes. Yeah, I bet there is. But I don't know
where it is. I think Fordproduced the first truck and
about 1916 And I think Silveradojust had the 17 year anniversary
so they've been around a whileyeah.
Michael Moran (36:32):
That brings us to the close of episode 46 Julian,
I'm told we're going to do vanlife, which is a neat explain as
a trailer that then you don'tneed to explain what to do next
time is skyscrapers, Van lifeJulian
Julian Bishop (36:49):
and many Americans who travel the US and
they live in a van and they justgo to different parts of the US
depending on the season. Youknow, so for example, where I
live in which is very nice placeto live, and it's you know,
beachy and in the car parks,there's always vans that are
(37:10):
living in you know, for a fewdays in our tiny in their van
and then they take their van andthey go and travel somewhere
else.
Michael Moran (37:19):
Now, this includes the guys we saw a
Venice Beach who had motorcycleswith obviously attachments in
which they were sleeping in.
Does that include that?
Julian Bishop (37:30):
Oh, no. doesn't include that. We'll do we'll do
that another time because thatis another subset of American
culture with his bikers. Yeah,these are people who live in
their vans.
Michael Moran (37:40):
People live with a vote on that note, we'll close
episode 46 So as always, it'sgood night for me
Julian Bishop (37:47):
and it's good night from him
Unknown (38:02):
guys I'm lazy
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