A Cute Story

During our first week in England I spend almost every afternoon walking around our new town and getting the lay of the land. I also learned quickly that the gloves, hats, and scarfs I packed in the sea shipment would have to be supplemented. Quickly. Have I mentioned it's snowed or rained almost every day we've been here?

Our temporary apartment is located very close to the town center, and within 10 minutes I can walk to a street that has a Topshop and H&M (kind of like high-end Forever 21 stores), Primark (low-end Forever 21), Lush, and a Marks & Spensors (like a Macy's, but with a grocery store in the bottom floor) as well as many, many boutiques. Needless to say, I headed that way to pick up some inexpensive warm layers for the weather we're having. In one shop, I arrived at the cash register line right when an older lady walked up. Here's our five minute conversation in a nutshell...

"Go ahead, dear. I think you were here first." Said the nice lady.
"Oh, thank you!" I said as I took the place in line in front of her.
"How lovely, you're an American! Are you visiting?"
"Actually, I just moved here 3 days ago."
"Wonderful! And where in America did you came from?"
"California, about two hours south of San Francisco."
"How nice, dear! You know, I've been there before... Humm... Can't remember where exactly we went. It was near a lake. You know, the big lake."
"Hummm... Tahoe?" (I tried to think of a big lake near San Francisco, but this was all I could come up with.)
"No. Hummm... Let me think. Honey?" She called over to her husband who was waiting outside of the cashier area, "What was the name of the place we stayed when we went to America?"
"Chicago!" He called back.
"That's right, Chicago!" She beamed.
"Oh! How nice... I've never been to Chicago, but I have some friends from that part of the country." I said as I was called up the the cashier. "Have a great day!"
"You too, dear. Welcome to England!" She said.

So I hope all is going well over there, be you near San Francisco or around the corner near that big lake in Chicago.

TGIF! :-)