It's my second visit to Texas -as long as the airport counts, that is. I have no idea what the state is like outside those high-security gates, but every flight to Central or South America seems to route through either Houston or Dallas, so those airports get pretty big numbers of travellers on hold for a few hours. Like me, on my way to Costa Rica.

Of the plenitude of entertaining things to see inside the spidery sprawl of the Houston International Airport, I have generously listed a few here for your enlightenment.

1) People actually using the shoe-shine stations. I saw six people getting their shoes buffed at once.

2) Red Velvet Cake muffins in every coffee shop (You know the kind with so much food colouring it turns your hands crimson.)

3) People actually choosing to drink Corona beer.

4) Fried alligator on the menu

5) Best Buy electronics vending machines

6) George W. Bush scowling out from the cover of his new memoir Decision Points.

Oh, America, love ya like a brother. I think.