Wait a minute. You're in the South. And you had a 7 a.m. breakfast meeting? Wow. Didn't know that was possible. In my stretch of the South, even an 8 a.m. meeting would be considered to be pushing the boundaries of what is both polite and physically possible. If somebody here had the temerity to schedule a meeting of any sort at 7 in the morning, nobody would come.
The con is mostly people from up north. I haven't heard a southern accent amongst them yet.

But LOL! I thought it was weird when we walked into Chapel Hill early a couple of days ago and it was all dead and shut!

My US experience is mostly confined to NYC, Seattle and Miami. This is all very different; quite delightful, I must say. People couldn't be friendlier and they have the most delicious accent. I fact, I've had many a strange exchange that goes;

"A' gadda saye, A' luurve yow accent."

"Well, I love yours."

"Naw, yaws is juuust beautiful!"

"Well so is yours."

And etc till my coffee goes cold. But we go away just loving each other to death. ::G::

And why is butter so expensive here? $6 for a regular sized slab that would cost 50p ($1) at home! I thought Southern cooking floated on a sea of saturated fats!

Where are you, then, honey - I'm guessing Georgia...?