Wondering.

According to Blogger Stats, these jottings of mine get visits from all the far-flung corners of the globe – from Singapore to Seattle, from Beijing to Buenos Aires.

I often wonder why, and I often wonder whether to believe it. But let’s suppose it’s true. In that case, I’m then tempted to wonder what people to whom English is a foreign language make of the various writing styles I use. (Do they appreciate, for example, the nuances and mood variations thus implied?) And after that, I wonder what they make of me. Oddly, the former matters much more to me than the latter. I don't worry unduly about my reputation except when it serves some useful purpose.

But today I made a new friend in Sainsbury’s, and together we helped the lady with the foreign accent find the Eccles cakes. You wouldn’t think that somebody with a foreign accent would ever have heard of Eccles cakes, would you? Maybe she’d become a fan of The Goon Show and thought they’d be a passport to laughter. She did seem a little nonplussed when I expressed a preference for Chorley cakes.

Anyway, the new friend and I discussed our shared vegetarian tendency, and when we parted she said ‘It was nice talking to you.’ Was it? I wonder. I trust so little these days.

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I’ve been having difficulty finding subject matter for the blog recently. I wonder whether anybody has noticed.