I think people, total strangers, have become more friendly. Perhaps it's recession, actual or threatened, which is making all of us more prepared to present a friendly face to outsiders. Standing in a queue at a supermarket checkout, my next in line begins chatting to me. Waiting to put money into a parking meter starts a conversation about the daylight robbery taking place in front of our eyes, as parking charges are raised to a ridiculous level.
Strangers smile and we exchange words about the Indian Summer and the reticent English, are throwing words like "OK sweetheart" and "Right you are darling" in my direction. No longer, thank god, the "duck", "duckie" or "ducks" of my childhood, which I hated. Nor "titch", which my school tormentors used.
No longer are people afraid of getting personal, saying "that looks nice", when they feel so inclined and I, for one, love it. I think we are perhaps getting more generous in our sentiments, as life becomes more sombre in other ways.
Friday, 7 October 2011
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