A very British problem ….


Is politeness.

Have just had a friend call me and apologise, it was lovely to speak with her, however I was a little confused.

She was all flustered and sounded upset, I initially thought she was phoning about her mum who was very sick and that it was bad news.

So it took a few moments…. Then again she apologised, so this time I asked her why.  Her answer;

Because I drove past you in my car going the opposite way and I waved to  you.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at this and said I hadn’t noticed her, so surely I should be the one apologising.  No, no; she continued.  She had spent the rest of her drive chastising herself for it, she wanted to call me the moment she got home to apologise for being so stupid.

By this point she was getting upset again and I struggled to calm her down.  I explained it wasn’t stupid and the gesture was lovely.  I explained that I wouldn’t have seen her, so apologised for not responding.

We both laughed about it and then she said the words, the words I have heard many many times before;

I just didn’t think, because you don’t look blind.

To this I laughed and again, she apologised.  Not that there was any need to, app of my friends know that I do not want to be treated differently, that if I need their help I will ask, so why wouldn’t she have waved to me while in her car?  She would do exactly the same to her other friends.

We talked about how I wasn’t offended by her comment, that I knew she hadn’t meant it as a bad thing.

We had a good giggle about how she would walk past me in the street and wave without me even noticing her.

it is not that I am ignoring or snubbing her, but if she is t speaking I wouldn’t be able to tell who it is.  And having spoken with total strangers before be chase they have waved at someone behind me!!  It is a situation I can relate to.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Page Reader Press Enter to Read Page Content Out Loud Press Enter to Pause or Restart Reading Page Content Out Loud Press Enter to Stop Reading Page Content Out Loud Screen Reader Support
%d bloggers like this: