Set Up Like A Deck Of Cards

Do you speak English? Well I do, so…

At work today, I had to speak to a couple of companies in Stockholm.  I spoke to maybe seven different people in one hour and every one of them answered the phone in Swedish.

Every time, my opening line was “Hi, do you speak English?” and every time the person I was speaking to immediately switched to perfect English.

There was one lady I spoke to who, when I asked if she could speak English, sounded quite embarassed and said, “a little bit.”  She had a strong Swedish accent, but I could understand her perfectly.  The fact that she seemed to think that her English wasn’t good enough killed me and I made a point of telling her how good it was before we finished talking.

It was pretty damn impressive and it made me feel useless for only knowing the minimum amount of French and German it is possible to know.  I wish I’d learned a second language when I was younger.

Everyone seemed to be in a good mood today.

I’m not sure why, but people in general seemed to be happier today (and last night as well, but that doesn’t sound as good in a post title).  The only possible explanation I can think of is that the weather was maybe the nicest it’s been for a couple of months.

I was in Edinburgh the last couple of days.  Last night, around 8pm, I was wandering around the city centre, to get my bearings, and to find where I had to be first thing this morning.  I found it, and then just kept on wandering around.  But then I started feeling lonely so, every now and then, I’d just stop and ask someone how to get to the place I’d already found.  Maybe 20 people over three hours.  And EVERYONE was really nice and helpful.

My taxi driver in Edinburgh gave me a brief history of Edinburgh on the way to the airport and answered all my questions and then refused to take a tip.

The lady behind the check-in counter was really chatty and asked about my stay.  When I told her it was my first time in Edinburgh for a few years, she started talking about how the city had changed since then and how I should come back and stay for longer.  She only stopped when someone else walked up to the counter.

In the security check, one of the security guys behind the X-Ray machine hid one of the lady in front of me’s boots while she was putting the other one on. He winked at me when he did it, and then smiled when she grinned at him when she realised.  She was putting the other boot on while I was putting my belt back on and she used my shoulder to support her out of nowhere and sang the line “Somebody to lean on”.

At Manchester Airport, I was walking into the Terminal and the automatic door didn’t open for me.  I backed up and tried again and nothing.  I danced around a bit and still nothing.  Some older guy (grey hair/ponytail) sitting down inside saw this and got up and walked 30 feet towards the door and set it off from the inside.  I said, “Cheers, pal”, and he clapped me on the back and said that the same thing happened to him 20 minutes earlier.

These are all little things, but they all happened within 24 hours.  Maybe I’m just being weird, but people just seemed to be in a better, happier, friendlier mood.  And I liked it.

(Another possible explanation I thought of while I was typing this:  I LOVED Edinburgh.  Maybe I was just in a better mood and people responded to me differently.)

Going to Edinburgh

I get to go to Edinburgh for a couple of days for work tomorrow! I haven’t been there since we had a week-long field trip when I was at university. I know I love the city, though.

Most of my time will be spent in an airport, hotel or conference room, but work is paying, so I’ll take what I can get. I think I’ll get a few hours to wander around the city centre before I have to come home.

Crash II

My alarm clock is less than two feet away from me when I sleep and it’s set at full volume.  I overslept by an hour this morning and was 30 minutes late for work.  The radio was blaring at full volume when I woke up.  I didn’t get away with it.

Crash

I couldn’t sleep last night.  On a workday, my alarm is set for 6.45am.  Last night I went to bed about 1am and I know I was still awake at 4.30 am.  My mind just refused to shut down.  I figured I’d feel like crap today, but I felt normal all day.  Maybe a bit of a headache before lunch but, after that, I was fine.  I kept thinking I was just going to crash, but I haven’t yet.

It’s 9.45pm right now and I’m still fine.  Two hours sleep, a full day of work, my normal workout, I’m sipping my second Jack and Coke of the night and I feel fine.  I either got away with it, or  I’m going to wake up at 5am, face down on my laptop with my contacts still in (I hate that).