A few home truths

This morning I did a tour for 20 people around the Cathedral, all visitors to the city and all thankfully very
complimentary.  They were all very friendly and afterwards when I retired to the coffee shop in the cloisters
three people asked if they could join me.   One of the ladies was an Aussie from Sydney whom it turned out lived VERY close to my friend in Hornsby Heights though she did not actually know her.  What a small world!
This lady was on her very first visit to the UK and though a 5th generation Aussie she was looking up her descendants/ancestors whichever is the right word; amazingly she discovered she was actually descended from
a rich, powerful family who fought for the King in the 14th centuary.
She said she loved being here but some of her comments were interesting:-  
  She found it difficult to understand what people were saying, she thought we all spoke English but apparently not so!.  Fair to her she did realize her own accent caused as many problems.
  She had hired a car and had to take it back after just three days as the other drivers scared the very life out of her.  She said she had never been shouted at, pushed off the road or had rude signs made to her in her life and it scared her.
I think that a sad reflection on our drivers.
Most of her comments were positive though except for the extraordinary remark that we had too many foreigners here.....what?...doesn't Australia have lots of people from all over the world then?  It all makes for an interesting life in a set of tiny rain drenched Islands in the North Sea.  I didn't say that though. 
Can't help remembering a sentence I heard many years ago - 'Life is all about the people you meet'.