Culture clash

I met an American colleague today, and in the course of a very informal conversation he asked what I did at weekends. While making the mental calculation of how much explaining I’d have to do he commented that the weekend was only two days ago so I really ought to be able to remember. So following a deep breath I tried to explain. Do they even have canals in the States? Apparently they have rivers but they smell so they’re not popular leisure destinations, and I spent the next few minutes fielding questions like ‘how do you tow it?’ and ‘can you ski from it?’?

I fear that the concept remains a mystery.