A few of the things I do like

I thought I'd better not be too cynical about this place. There are a lot of good things that I like.
I think the first thing that strikes you here is the natural curtesy and good manners of everyone. Even in the aisles of Walmart peoples' manners are impeccable. When they say have a nice day here, it actually sounds as if they mean it and some thought has gone into it.
People seem interested in who you are and where you are from and all respond to London with delight. They've either been and loved it or it's the one place they've always wanted to go.
Americans remember your name it seems always, even if you've only said it once. I'm hopeless at remembering names, so this always impresses me.
Although this is not strictly speaking the south, the whole feel of the place is. They consider themselves southern and the accent, which I love, is southern.
Americans know how to give good service. This was particularly noticeable in the bank, when we opened our account. They behaved as if our account mattered. The service was personal, it is a bit of a business these days opening an account, but they made the whole process as painless as possible. They greet us in the street, they know who we are. The whole attitude is in marked contrast to the service we get at our own bank in London.
It is not just in banks that you get service. The video rental store, the drugstore. Even the local council offices. The result is you don't feel hassled and bad tempered. It is partly the small town thing, but I think it is also a different attitude.  It is a bit like going back to the 50's. Or maybe, what I imagine the 50's were like.
I like american breakfasts! I wouldn't want them every day, but they are very nice as a treat. Round here, they have another breakfast speciality- biscuits and gravy. What they call a biscuit is more a scone, and the gravy is made from bacon and other meat scraps in a white sauce. Pretty rich first thing in the morning.
Another local speciality is pepper jelly. It is made either with fruit or what they call bell peppers with a few jalapenos thrown in to give it bite. It is very good with meat. They have it with bagels and cream cheese and the like. Since the cream cheese here is tasteless, the pepper jelly is needed.
The corn is delicious. You buy it in bags of 20 from the farmers market and it is straight out of the fields. Not heavy and starchy, but crisp and juicy- yum. Also tomatoes- the big misshapen ones that have big cores and are a bit green on top- delicious.

yummy tomatoes!