She was sat on a low wall and looked in pain
" Do you know how to ring a taxi ? " she asked "I think I've broken my leg"
She wagged a rather large left leg at me
I told her I was nurse
Her ankle was swollen just a little but she let me prod it a little and I told her that I thought it was sprained
It's amazing what people allow you to touch if you say that you're a nurse!
" what do I do for that?" She asked , her anxieties reducing to almost normal"
" Rest, gin and ice!" I told her
She fist bumped me, which made me feel rather hip.
A house sparrow homed in on my breakfast this morning and was eating my scrambled egg when I returned to my table with coffee.
An old Belgium queen in an oversized straw hat at the next table looked shocked when I continued to eat it and wafted himself rather too energetically with a napkin in order to recover.
I love people watching
Glad you enjoy people watching, you are very good at telling us about it! x
ReplyDeleteYou look very much at ease and contented in that picture! Do you still have a few more days there? -Jenn
ReplyDeleteI luv ya, John, and read you every day but a wee word of advice...please don't refer to a young woman (or an old bitch feminist like me, 77 years old) as a girl! It's even harder work for a girl to become a woman than it is for a boy to become a man. Women can refer to women friends as girls but that's kinda it. I just reamed my old man for doing this! Not offended, just seeing a teachable moment. And I'll keep reading you every day.
ReplyDeleteKnow what you mean. If I called my son, his friends, his cousins "boy(s)", now that they are grown men in their late twenties/early thirties, I'd have another thing coming. Still, the British are what they are. Largely unthinking. So a woman amounts to a girl. No doubt meant affectionately, if belittling. Which reminds me of my English father-in-law (RIP) who referred to his handyman/gardener as "my little man". At the time and I was only in my mid twenties and not well versed in the way of the English I thought it peculiar (and as is the wont of my nationality said so). "MY" "little" ...? What? His wife, my mother-in-law, also had, according to her husband, "a little job". Honestly, you can't make up this shit.
DeleteSince I am a (bloody) foreigner on these isles I take all British idiosyncrasies (or idiot crazies as I call them) in my stride. Anything to make me laugh welcome.
U
Noted and amended
DeleteI never mind being called a girl, indeed I refer to myself as a girl lots of the time on my blog posts ... well I'm definitely NOT a boy!!
DeleteMaybe one day I'll grow up and act like a woman but until then don't ever think you'll offend me by calling me a girl. Oh and I call my sons 'the boys' frequently even though they are 32 and 38 and they are never offended. Each to their own I guess.
You look very relaxed ... lovely to see.
I also have no objection to being called a girl :)
DeleteNow what do you do?
DeleteI don't mind being called a girl either. In fact I find it quite flattering at my age. Call me old-fashioned.
DeleteNo, sorry, he's taken advice on it and the advice stands.
DeleteOh well, you can't please everyone.
DeleteI would have been shocked to see you (well, not YOU, but anyone else) continue to eat after that sparrow. You would be fun to people watch.
ReplyDeleteJohn, you look blissed out (if a little wistful) in that photo. Anyway, good job you are where you are. Here, South Coast of England, only this morning I had to remind some of my moaning minnies fellow humans that if we were on holiday in Greece, Spain, South of France, we'd expect nothing less than the temperatures we are now enjoying on this sceptred isle. Still, what is weather for if not to moan about it.
ReplyDeleteShould you succumb to a Sangria - I'll raise you a Gazpacho.
Hasta la Vista,
U
who took the photo?
ReplyDeleteThat would be telling
DeleteOk then we will just start making up crazy stories as to who it could be!!! ;)
DeleteYou look happy. Cheers!
DeleteA sparrow is cute compared to the seagulls in Llandudno 😉
ReplyDeleteLife is good, the best is yet to come!
ReplyDeleteA Belgian and Chocolate. There must be a joke somewhere.
ReplyDeleteStop it!!
DeleteGreat photo. Not sure I would want to share my breakfast with a sparrow.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're one of the people worth watching!
ReplyDeleteI, too,might have a second thought about eating after the sparrow,but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteI'm less fussy
Deleteif it was a pigeon or seagull on my plate, no, but a sparrow, probably. i saw two young men on a tram today and as one said to the other, see you bro, with closed fists they touched their knuckles together. i guess that is a fist bump. what a queer thing, but women doing it!!!!
ReplyDeleteI did it back to her
DeleteIsn't a beach the best place to be?! Relaxing there and people watching is one of my favorite pastimes. I don't get to do that often enough. And looking for beach glass just makes it more fun for me. You look great, John.
ReplyDeleteI love people watching, I find the human race quite odd most of the time. Enjoy your holiday, I don't do holidays, I find that one of the oddest of things about human beings. Veronica
ReplyDeleteI don't do 2/52 holidays
DeleteJust a few days
Sweet report. I love the image of you prodding the leg of a complete stranger. It is true- people will let you touch them who never normally would if they hear you're a nurse.
ReplyDeleteAnd how much egg could a little sparrow eat? Plenty to share, I am sure!
Prodded? I had both hands on it
DeleteClosest I've been is Barcelona and Valencia, but I did much the same, wandered around, found a nice outdoor cafe and people watched, letting the expresso cups pile up. Enjoy! Oh, and speaking of things medical, in Lisbon I'd just climbed a steep cobbled street, paused and leaned on a railing to catch breath, and across the street was a sign on an office: Cardiology.
ReplyDeleteEspresso and arrhythmias !
DeleteLocation, location, location ...
DeletePeople watching is the best.
ReplyDeleteIndeed very therepeutic
DeleteSo long as the sparrow didn't poop on your plate, what's the problem, I say?
ReplyDeleteI did check
Delete'Cannibal' sparrows in Spain; well, needs must! Fun to people watch and even more fun to shock them a little, sometimes!
ReplyDeleteShock? I must think of something
DeleteYou did that with the Crocs x
DeleteBitch x
DeleteA totally happier photo from the one last year, I think you were smiling in last year’s, although it was more akin to a wind pain smile.
ReplyDeleteLX
I didn't smile with my eyes
DeleteThe waiter
DeleteA sparrow's mouth is probably a lot cleaner than many people's. Certainly cleaner than a dog's!
ReplyDeleteDo you apply the gin and ice to the sprained ankle or do you drink it?
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see your smiling eyes again. :)
ReplyDeletePeople watching was my mom's favorite thing to do.
It was nice of you to share your eggs!
Hugs!
You're watching people watching you! :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your blog John. You look well! Iechyd dda! X
ReplyDeleteSounds perfect; just how a holiday should be!
ReplyDeleteI love people watching too. And gin is good advice for a sprained ankle!
ReplyDeleteI read a blog of two black women on a picnic with their young children near a beach; when, seagulls swooped down and snatched their picnic off the table. The women and children scattered screaming. I laughed my butt off reading the blog (don't remember which blog post it was). At least in your case it was a tiny sparrow LOL. BTW I like the fact you took both hands to check the woman's ankles...prodding just won't do. It would be uncomfortable for me if prodded rather I'd like someone to actually check my ankles with both hands. I guess reading blogs is like people watching...never know what you'll see or read.
ReplyDeleteRita it my blog post and the beach was in Broadstairs Kent x
DeleteThe one thing I really do enjoy about your blog (and it's far from the only thing) is that you're the rare gay man who admits to NOT being a neat freak or germphobic.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a Summer house on fire Island,NY
ReplyDeleteOne of our favorite family moments was when my very young daughter came running down the board walk, bellowing at the top of her lungs...Mama mama I saw the Queen!!
Did I mention that we always referred to the neighbors as the queens.
They called Jane Fonda so we were good with our nicknames 💕
You are a master storyteller, John - and I don't think you can catch anything from a sparrow :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you helped ease that woman's mind a great deal. It's not nice to be travelling and need medical help or at least a medical opinion as to whether you need help.
I need a nurse!
ReplyDeletePeople watching is a constant here. Sometimes I am touched, sometimes I am horrified, so very often I am fascinated.
ReplyDeleteLovely to see (as others have said) your smile reach your eyes again.
Sounds like you are having a good time. I love to people watch too!
ReplyDelete:D
ReplyDeleteYou have to like a sparrow. I have seen them eating sugar from a hotel table in Botswana and a table in Venice. Good solid working class birds feasting at the tables of capitalists.
ReplyDeleteHah hah. I'm with the old Belgium queen!
ReplyDeleteYou are meeting some characters, John! Hope you are feeling so much more relaxed. Waiting to hear your next instalment of holiday capers :)
ReplyDelete"Rest, gin and ice": You should have been a doctor, John. BTW, is it blazing hot there?
ReplyDeleteHave you been swimming in the sea yet? I hope you remembered to pack your rubber ring...no! Not that sort of rubber ring!
ReplyDeleteI would not have eaten after the bird!
ReplyDeleteHugs.
ReplyDeleteYou look pissed.
ReplyDeleteI wasnt
DeleteYou're back to normal, pretty much. Good enough to get on with very well.
ReplyDeleteSea gulls are nasty. They fly in during the winter and snatch students' lunches. Sent them screaming. Good times.
ReplyDeleteI live in an old people community. If you were here and they knew you were a nurse, you would have to run fast to escape them.
Lovely to see your smiling face at least your not drinking alone, great story telling sounds like an interesting place good on you sharing your egg with a sparrow.
ReplyDeleteLovely post and lovely photo. Glad you are having a good time.
ReplyDeleteI love this. I can see it clearly. :)
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother introduced me to the joy of people watching from age 5 and I've been enjoying it ever since.😏
ReplyDelete