Friday 21 July 2017

New people

Today, out to lunch again (again? well yes, I was out on Wednesday and am out again on Sunday and then next Tuesday), the restaurant got busy and the waitress asked if we minded sharing a table with two other people.   Of course we didn't mind, especially as we were at the coffee stage and would soon be ready to go.

How lucky we were to have said yes.  We met two of the nicest people imaginable and had a lovely half hour chatting while we waited for their lunch to arrive.   These chance meetings can turn out to be a delight and frankly should never be turned down.   Having the chance to have a conversation with someone new can be very refreshing.

We exchanged the names of restaurants,  shared places we had visited, chatted  about trivialities - all with a lady of ninety and her son perhaps in his sixties.    He obviously adored his mother and she likewise and together they made a fascinating pair. I hope they thought the same about us.

As my father used to be fond of quoting (Rabbie Burns I think but I am sure someone will put me right if it is not so) 'Oh would some power the giftie gi' us, to see oursel's as others see us'!

28 comments:

Mac n' Janet said...

We've met some interesting people that way too.

Ruth said...

That IS Burns, and thanks to you I looked it up and read all the preceding verses. I knew the one you quoted, as it's something we all should remember and is often quoted (not often enough), but I never before read the whole thing.

That was a lovely experience. We need to pay attention, don't we!

Iris said...

That reminds me of a lunch that we had in the town of Stow-on-the-Wold a couple of years ago. We were seated next to the table of an elderly couple, but the tables were so close that we started to chat with them as well. The woman told us that her grandson is in Afghanistan, when her husband suddenly piped up to announce that he had seen a tiger while driving in a Jeep. He must have been at the point of 'losing the plot' a little bit. I wanted to ask him more about it, but was simply too flustered to do so by the sudden change of topic.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

"To A Louse" (On Seeing One On A Lady's Bonnet, At Church) - 1786.
I sincerely hope you don't have lice in your bonnet Mrs Weaver!

justjill said...

Ah Burns. A great poet and commentator on life. I recommend his complete works. Many of his poems have inspired me to paint. Your many lunch outings also have inspired me! I intend to arrange some, tho it will need some retail therapy first....

Rachel Phillips said...

I have talked to many people.

angryparsnip said...

Wonderful. I have had some lovely visits by chance meeting.
Keep going out for lunch, best way to help enjoy the day.

cheers, parsnip

Heather said...

It is always a pleasure to come across kindred spirits where ever one might find them. Definitely an extra bonus to lunching out.

Barbara said...

I love finding those kindred souls along the way!
That's one thing I love about being a Market vendor...those little conversations and insights that last long after the day is done. We have met some amazing folks and made some very dear friends from "chance encounters".

Mary said...

We enjoy the nicest people we come across by chance too!
How miserable life would be without unexpected meetings and conversations with others.

Cloudia said...

Thank you for the wise advice and wonderful post today.

Ellen D. said...

That's how I feel about your blog! A chance meeting, a delightful visit, you always have something so interesting to share! - I always look forward to your posts!
Thanks! Ellen

John Going Gently said...

Your companions are probably writing the same thing on their blog

Cro Magnon said...

I love joining other people at table; in my case it's usually workmen.

Librarian said...

My Mum is a "people magnet", and whenever I am out with her, we have conversations with all sorts of people - the weird and the wonderful!
When I am in the mood, I love this, but sometimes (rarely) I honestly want to keep to myself and the company I have chosen.

Frances said...

I love meeting new people and chatting. We talked to a lot of new folks in various pubs when we were in Northumberland recently. Having the dog with us is a great " ice breaker", especially with other dog owners.

Anonymous said...

Chance encounters like that are so interesting. I mostly get them at running races these days and have met some lovely people that way.

Tom Stephenson said...

I'm not sure I want to know how others see me.

Rachel Phillips said...

I was thinking what Tom said too but didn't like to say it. What good does it do us, to know how others see us after we have just enjoyed a nice chat with them? Surely we must be satisfied in the knowledge that they were happy to chat with us.

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

That's my husband- he strikes up a conversation easily and meets all sorts of interesting people. I'm not one for small talk and tend to be a bit introverted around people I don't know, often thinking, "Why would they want to talk to me? They're probably busy having their own conversations." In fact, I always admire people who have an ease about them with others. -Jenn

Derek Faulkner said...

Personally I couldn't give a toss what people think of me, it's a two choice thin and I'm easy either way. I'm been in the "sharing a table situation" where as well as inhibiting my conversation with the person I was with, the other people turned out to be incredibly boring.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for the comments. Reading through them I am struck by how different from one another we all are. I don't on the whole care what folk think of me but I do love to meet new people and get another view of the world - and that is really what my post was all about.

Rachel Phillips said...

It was the Burns quote that threw me.

Bea said...

Lovely when that sort of thing happens!

galant said...

Like you, I love these chance meetings although my husband is always more reluctant to share a table, goodness knows why, but when he does he finds he enjoys talking to new people. Once, many years ago, when I was lunching in the very ordinary café in Morrisons in Totnes with my mother (now my late mother), we shared a table with an elderly lady. We had such a lovely time. And the next week she was there again and we shared a second time. And eventually this became a regular thing and my mother and the lady became very good friends. She had been the head teacher in a rural Devon primary school and was also an accomplished artist. She lived close by and she invited us for morning coffee. Eventually, the two ladies met often, in each others' homes, and my mother, who had always longed to have a go at watercolour painting, but never had, bought paints and this lovely lady taught her the rudiments of watercolour painting, so much so my mother made some passable attempts at painting. They had a lovely few years, visiting each other, until first my mother died and then her friend not long afterwards. All this from a chance meeting, sharing a table in Morrisons.
Margaret P

Anonymous said...

I love joining other people at table; in my case it's usually workmen.



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