Every person is different from the next and in my view they are all worth listening to. With every new interaction, we learn more about what it is to be a human being.
On Sunday night, I boarded the last number 88 bus with my friend Mike. It was waiting at the bus stop. The driver was out of his seat pacing the bottom deck with no other passengers on board. When the pneumatic doors opened, the driver joshed with us that he had been hoping to drive back into the city centre on his own.
I asked him if he liked a full bus or an empty one and he explained why he preferred the latter. After showing my senior citizen's pass I commented on his accent, "Are you from Northern Ireland?" He said he'd arrived in Sheffield from Belfast back in the 1990's.
"Your accent is still strong," I remarked.
"That's because I am proud of my heritage."
And the conversation continued with thoughts about how some people deliberately and proudly hang on to the accents of childhood while others willingly ditch them and soon begin to speak like their new host community.
Last night (Thursday) I ventured out to one of our local bars - "The Dark Horse". I had not been in there in months. By chance I met up with a senior academic I have known for several years. He works in The University of Sheffield specialising in Japanese.
He was keen to talk with me about issues he has recently experienced with the UK Border Force. Six months ago he married a Costa Rican woman in the Costa Rican embassy in Tokyo. The unusual venue was chosen with regard to documentation and officialdom. He wished to bring his new wife back to England to live with him but so far this has not proved possible. They have spent thousands of pounds. on visas and legal services but they are still separated. He admitted that the difficulties threatened to drive a wedge between them and it was not what either of them had envisioned. There had been particular problems emanating from the fact that though English, he was actually born in Kenya when his father worked there through the nineteen sixties.
I think it is good to be inquisitive about other people. Once we lose that delight and that curiosity our lives are diminished. As I say, everyone has different stories to tell.
⦿
With midnight fast approaching, soon I must mount our stairs ready for the early drive over to Liverpool. Thence to Portugal.
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/DcuMH8S