Thank heavens for some decent, much needed rain overnight and this morning!
It does not bother me a bit that my journey to work involves walking under an umbrella, foggy windows on the train, wet shoes or having to duck down to protect myself about careless umbrella holders on the sidewalk. It's a bit like Sunday drivers really - they don't get to practice much during the week so on the weekend they're all over the road in their ignorant little ways.
As I arrived at my building, I was greeted by the friendly proprietor of the ground-floor coffee shop, who (over the course of the past 18 months) has made it very obvious that she is very proud of her Greek origins. She has also made a very correct observation that I am not that 'Greek'. Sure I have the looks and lived there for the first 19 years of my life and my accent has certain remnants and I do talk with my hands (to a certain extent) - but I have chosen not to live in Greece or marrry a Greek lady or observe most cultural and all religious traditions.
The said person did not know that I absolutely loved living in England. So when she asked me sarcastically how I like the gray sky and all that rain, I replied "Yes, it reminds me of London". To which her lips trembled and she commented that she should have expected that and that I chose to come to the right place weather-wise (Melbourne) to live.
I couldn't be bothered to engage in an environmental crisis conversation around the fact that it no longer rains properly in Melbourne and that Londoners get sunburned in springtime (well, English people get sunburned just by thinking about the sun), so I walked away saying that, really, I would love to live in Tasmania.
Hate is a strong word, so I really dislike smalltalk...
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