The third chapter of Bill Bryson´s “Notes from a Big Country”, called “How to Have Fund at Home” is about Bryson comparing his new living standard in America with his old one in Great Britain.
While his wife adores the shopping services in America Bryson attrackts attention on the missing capacities, like health service, for example.
But Bryson adds that there are indeed a few things he can´t do without, for example a garbage disposal, which he claims as very practical and amusing. But Bryson also criticises that Americans invented a lot of ingenious patents no one actually needs, like basements because they are completely useless. Almost every house in America has a Basement but it´s nether used for leisure maintenance nor as a playroom for kids. Bryson wonders why so many people have a basement although it´s actually just nothing more than a lot of wasted space.
For Bryson this is just another curious phenomenon of American´s “unsung household life”.
