1. My cousin went to Edinburgh once.
2. What about that Tony Blair, eh!
3. I really really loved the Queen Mother. Did you know her?
4. Do you have your Thanksgiving at the same time that we do?
5. Oooh, I bet you watched the Olympics.
6. Do you celebrate Christmas over there?
7. Is your Christmas at the same time as ours?
8. I'm meeting the Dalai Lama tomorrow. Do you have him in England?
9. I love England! I've never been. But my sister went to New Zealand. They're near to one another.
10. I watched a film set in London once. It had that guy in it.Tall. I'm sure you'd know him if I could remember the name.
(And I need to contextualise just a little: some of the questions were asked in a small town called Herkimer in upstate New York. The guy we spoke to was excited that we came from Boston, which seemed like another world to him. When he found out we were English, it was as though we came from another planet. It was a great conversation, but I have never felt so foreign to someone in my life. Some of the other questions come from our school crossing guard, our plumber, a woman we met on the bus, and random strangers. I have asked each of them, unintentionally stupid, questions too.)
But did you watch the Olympics, Z? In all honesty, they were ace! People in London were all smiley & happy & talking to one another - it was v weird in a good way. (Even if Boris was involved.) Lx
ReplyDeleteJ's favourite comment when he lived in Seattle was "how do you find the language barrier?", "what language barrier?", "well, don't you all speak German in England?" L xxx
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