All this can be embarrassing when eating out as there always comes a point where people start looking round wondering why everyone's still got dirty plates in front of them until their eyes settle on me still munching away at the end of the table, holding up the process for everyone. I wasn't really aware of the fact that this waiting style is particularly European, but now we've been here for a while I have come to realise that it is practice in the US to whip away a cleared plate as soon as it's spotted, which pretty much constantly leaves me sitting there with my half eaten food in front of me and nothing for the Boy Wonder to even pretend to be doing while I carry on eating.
I can't tell whether it's better or worse than back home - in some ways it draws more attention to the fact that one of us is taking a lot longer than the other to eat, but at least the one who's finished can lie down on the table if they get so fed up of waiting for me to finish. However, having been brought up being told that it's rude to clear the table until everyone has finished (despite the fact that this often had to be done when I was a child just so that everyone could get on with the stuff that needed doing) it does seem mildly inappropriate, which is taking some getting used to.
