What emerges from "Adventure Capitalist," for example, is that countries say a lot about themselves through their bureaucracies, their border-crossing formalities, their ability to repair highways, their penchant for taking bribes.
Back then, crossing borders was a formality, but now an unwary welcome is out of the question.
Yet crossing into Tanzania south of Mombasa the formalities still take half an hour.The influence of Kenya's mobile technology is easy to spot.
"The signing of my new contract was simply a formality of dotting the i's and crossing the t's.
After waiting in line and taking care of formalities, they cross the border.
On crossing the border, a friendly young Canadian customs agent smilingly went through the formalities and welcomed us; on returning to our native country, an armed agent barked orders, searched our car and snapped questions.
There are still formalities to be completed - dotting the "i" in Nicola and crossing the "t" in Sturgeon.
He could use an official border post a few kilometres away, but the border formalities can takes hours, and he may not be allowed to cross at all.
Perhaps, the formality gives us the "permission" we unconsciously seek when we cross lines of propriety and custom.
West Germans were able to cross the border relatively freely to visit relatives, but had to go through numerous bureaucratic formalities.
Because of an agreement between some European countries removing border formalities, there is no need to slow down or show his passport as he crosses the border.
