Leigh's Views

Okay, yesterday was cold – very cold by southern standards. Thus I was wearing a sweater, my very cute sweater if I do say so myself. One of the neighbor boys thinks it looks like it has aliens on it – you know the kind from outer space. He wishes I would wear this sweater more than once or twice a year because he loves it. Uhm, whatever. Well, I was spending some time with friends and it was a perfect opportunity to dig out this particular item of clothing. After we had finished at the coffeeshop, I made the mistake of running to Walmart to pick up a few items. Now Walmart has made it were you pretty much have no option but to do the self-check out thing. Fine, sure, I have always wanted to do someone else’s job for them. It’s alright - turns out, I’m often faster and more accurate than the cashiers. So, I ring up the first item – shredded lettuce. The machines says this is a restricted item and I need approval. Wait – what?! The lone employee comes over and fixes it. I ring up the

So the other day I was trying to do something and a task that should have take at most an hour, well, let’s just say, I was several hours in an nowhere near a satisfactory completion. Thus, in frustration, I vented to someone about what was going on. I got the standard cliché reply, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Okay, given the day I was having, I gave a rather sarcastic response. “I know Rome wasn’t built in a day – however if you get lost you can accidentally end up walking all of it in one. Been there, done that, got the blisters to prove it.” The person I was talking to thought this was hilarious. But, in all seriousness, where is that line between it’s time to throw in the towel or to keep pushing forward? Sometimes it’s rather obvious, like when you’re lost in a strange city. You can’t simply find a nice little corner, sit down and sleep until your flight home. Forget about your belonging in your hotel, nothing is that important anyway. No, of course you can’t do that. Not on

So I saw a posting on Facebook awhile back to effect that someone who speaks in a broken manner should be praised because it means they speak two languages. Not sure about this, I’ve been trying for years to speak a second language and am just now able to put together a few semi-decent sentences in Spanish. Whenever I try to speak to someone who is fluent, I just get eye-rolls. Anyways, the other day my neighbor and friend ask me over for coffee because she said she had something she wanted to show me. I love going to her house – she’s from Columbia and always makes the best treats to serve with coffee. So off I go at the appointed time. There on her coffee table is one of those smart speakers with the voice assistant. Uhm, I didn’t know those things spoke Spanish, interesting. Then, she explained that after trying to learn English by taking classes, using an app and working at the local grocery store, she still didn’t speak clearly enough for many people to understand her. Hey, sh

I love to travel, in large part because of the people I get to meet. Take for instance this experience I had last month in Greece. Now in many places in Europe, restaurants advertise by putting a podium with the menu out on the sidewalk. Then when someone stops to look at the menu, the host pops out and he or she tries to convince the person to eat at that establishment. This works really well in places where all of the restaurants and cafes have patio seating – you can see all of the happy people eating the wonderful food. Now some hosts are rather straightforward in their approach and tell you what the chef’s best dish is. Others get creative and chit chat, trying to figure out what you might like to eat. Anyway, each night when I’m in Europe, I love to play the ‘Pick a Restaurant’ game. Wander around, look at a lot of menus and talk to a lot of people before deciding where to eat. In Greece, this wasn’t the easiest thing to do because the Greek alphabet isn’t the same as ours an

Okay, I’ve always been a very trusting person. Some would say overly so. But a few experiences over the last few years have made me less willing to blindly trust. Older = wiser, I guess. However, there are a few things I have never trusted – the news and the internet. It just seems there’s either a bias or bad sources in both of those areas. Thus, I often ignore much of the info I hear. I know, I know – sticking my head in the sand may not be the best attitude, but it works for me. Now I have this friend who is the exact opposite – they believe everything they hear on the news and read on the internet. Not only that, they actively try to convince others this info is correct. Over the years, I, and others have gently tried to explain to this person why they shouldn’t be so gullible. Things often aren't what they seem and shouldn't be taken at face value. Alas and alack, nothing has changed with this person. Well, the other day, this person was trying to persuade me into beli