Today’s December Reflections prompt: I said Hello To is giving me some problems. I have no idea what to write about.
There have been no big new Hellos in my life in 2019 – they all happened last year and I could have rabbited on for hours on this topic just 12 months ago,
True enough, we travel a great deal and we meet a great many people. I have said Hello and Good Morning in several different languages this year: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese.
Perhaps that is interesting enough in itself!I must confess that some mornings when I head for the shower I actually struggle to recall which country I am in and what greeting to offer to the other bleary-eyed campers that I meet en route to the sanitaires. I quite liked Germany, where a grunted “Morgen!” sounds sufficiently like my own cursory Yorkshire version of “Morning” that I could get away with things. Here on the Iberian Peninsula things can be more tricky due to the simultaneously similar-but-different Portuguese and Spanish salutations.
Yes, I become tongue-tied.
Happily, the camping community largely settles for a cheery “Hello” whatever country the greeter hails from. I am repeatedly reminded of my privileged position as one who has grown up as a native English speaker. I do like to put in some effort though – just ask me after I have had my morning coffee and I will try to do better!
[…] In my “Hello” post I wrote about the many people that we meet on our travels but noted no significant hellos in 2019. Of course when we move on there are people to say Au Revoir to — and who knows when or where we may meet again. […]