Conversations in the Rain

I rode my bicycle to Norbiton on Sunday. It was nice to get to see places I do not normally ride. On the way, I got caught in a sudden downpour. I was wearing my rain gear, but I decided to take refuge in a shelter for a while while it blew over.

While there, a couple kids (teens would be my guess) popped off a bus and were hold a rather loud and obnoxious conversation for all the world to hear.

"I just cannot believe those American children!" the boy exclaimed. "They're so obnoxious!"

"I cannot believe how inappropriately they behaved." the girl responded.

"And their screechy little voices! They have those annoying screechy voices that are so irritating." the boy continued, his own voice starting to crack with excitement.

"And they never shut up." the girl droned on.

From there as is probably fairly obvious at this point, their conversation droned-on in this vein as they talked incessantly in annoyingly loud voices about how American children (apparently they had been on a bus with them recently) were loud and obnoxious. We always hate the things in others that we, ourselves are. Don't we?

I personally hate it when others are witty, intelligent, and devastatingly good looking!

They eventually got on the bus, and as they walked past me to board, I leaned over and said (in my heaviest southern drawl) "Ya know, it ain't only American children who are rude, loud and obnoxious." It was the first thing I had said to anyone currently at the bus stop. They went white, and boarded the bus. Out of the corner of my eye, I say the gentleman who had been trying to read his paper snicker and shake his head.

The other conversation mentioned in the title of this piece happened yesterday. As I was waiting for someone to arrive at the train station (I was going to show them the way across the village to the office.) the other day, I stood under my umbrella waiting for the train to arrive. The woman standing to my right said to her companion: "I hate all this rain. God! I cannot wait for this drought to be over."

To be fair, she was not in my line of sight and she could well have been being sarcastic (It is sometimes hard for me to read voices over here; what with having to translate everything they say into English and then having to compensate for their foreign accents, it is sometimes hard to even understand what is being said!) but the nonsequitir just struck me as odd! It was a little like complaining about how hot it is whilst turning-up the thermostat!

I hope that wherever you are today it is either raining, or not. (or both) as per your liking!

Don Bergquist - 23rd May 2006 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, United Kingdom