ABSTRACT THURSDAY - WEATHER

This was a “stunted and shrivelled” branch I saw on a bush whilst waiting for a bus this morning and just for a change, I had already looked at the theme for Abstract Thursday.  It is loosely connected to the theme, which is “weather” - as if we hadn’t had a drought, it would have looked as good as the other branches.  Whilst on the bus and so I didn’t need to waste my time, I had a play with my iColorama app and then the Carbon app and was happy with this abstract.

Perhaps we are sometimes like this branch - if we don’t take in and digest the right things whether it’s food or the things we put into our minds via books, the things we watch on television or what we listen to, then we, too, may well be stunted and shrivelled in our growth.

Just been to a meeting at Church - as an extension of the Community Fridge - where several volunteers, me included, will be helping at an iCaf, a café-style place for  those whose first language isn’t English.  This is being set up not only to help them learn our language, but also to help them with the customs and culture that many of us have learned whilst growing up, by example, and which are second nature to us, but which they need to know about if they live in the UK.  

Who knows - some of us may end up learning some words in Nepalese, Farsi, Portuguese, Urdu or even Chinese, which could be very handy if we decide to go travelling!

I have some homework to do - translate "Do you have an allergy - is there anything you cannot eat or drink because it makes you ill?" into various languages so that we can ask those who come to the iCaf - thank goodness for Google Translate as we wouldn't want anything to happen, particularly on their first visit!

I remember when our Singaporean friends were living here for a year many years ago and we went into town to do some shopping, my friend was bartering with the shop assistant and asked her for a discount on the price of a lightbulb he wanted to purchase. She was adamant that the price on the light bulb was the price he had to pay or he could leave and go somewhere else. It was quite embarrassing at the time but you see my point and I’m sure many of you could tell similar stories of customs you have not adhered to whilst abroad or even in a different part of the UK.

I have done almost 6,500 steps today, which may not sound many, but which is a lot for me, so I am getting there and am glad I have been “pushing myself” after having Covid.

"To learn a language is to have 
     one more window
          from which to look at the world."
Chinese Proverb

P.S.  You might like to know that today’s date, written like this 22/9/22 is a palindrome - the same backwards as forwards - I know that my Blip friend, GadgetKid, will be happy to know that.  I see that this is Entry number 3552 - shame it's not 3553 as that would have been a palindrome too!