This is what makes B&B so interesting

[Coco]

We get the occasional guest that makes you wonder why you do it.  But in general, most of our guests are absolutely charming and we thoroughly enjoy their company.

What makes it even more interesting is meeting so many different nationalities and finding out about and sometimes trying to see life or various topics of discussion from their point of view.  One that ALWAYS amazes me is the French belief that the English are so good at foreign languages and that we are so much more disciplined about learning French than they are about learning English!  Now where on earth did that one come from?

So far this year we've had Kiwis, Aussies, South Africans, Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, French, Belgian, Dutch, Italians and today we have Finnish.

I suppose having worked for a while in Oz I knew that the Kiwis felt very over-shadowed by the Aussies but until I started in this business I hadn't quite realised the extent of the animosity felt by the Canadians towards the Americans!  The French seem to love the Belgians but dislike the Dutch and suprisingly, the Welsh don't seem to think us English are that bad after all!

Meeting so many nationalities also makes you realise how you can become coocooned in your own little world and beliefs - or now we live in France, maybe we now see some things from the French perspective a little as well. 

But this morning one thing struck home whilst talking to the Fins about the second world war (they're off to the D-Day beaches today).  We suddenly realised that although we felt we knew quite a bit about the history of WWII, it was really from an English, French or American point of view.  We didn't even know if Finland had fought as such, or whether they had just been occupied (I didn't think they were neutral, but wasn't certain).   Anyway, it turns out that in the south they more or less kept out of things but a lot of people sent their children to neutral Sweden for the duration, just to be on the safe side.  But the north was partially occupied by the Germans but in fact Finland took up arms and fought alongside the Germans against the Russians.  That makes them our enemies doesn't it?  Weeeelll, technically yes.  But there again, talking to this chap, whose dad had fought in the Finnish army, it was mainly to stop Finland from being over-run by the Russians.  And as his wife said, "every time we came home from a holiday in Europe through the Baltic states I thanked God that our fathers fought for the freedom of our country, we are so much better off than those countries".

Now isn't that what we always say?  It is due to the brave men of our fathers or grand-fathers generations that we are a free country today.   So yet again, a different perspective from a different nationality and it makes life so interesting.  I wouldn't swap my life now for that which I had when I worked in a cosmopolitan city like London and yet never spoke to someone from another country, unless to direct them to the British Museum, Covent Garden or theatreland!!

[Lizzie15]

That was a really interesting post Coco, thankyou for that! It is good to step back out of our own little Worlds for a while and reflect...

 

[mascamps.com]

For a very different and peculiar perspective, try going to Concord Mass (no, I can't spell it!). That's where the American war of independence started and, of course, where our history books diverged so, as you'd expect, people listed in their books as patriots would be listed in ours as rebels for instance.

I'd been all around America over holidays for years and always felt at home there. I guess you see it on the TV all the time and the common heritage etc. that goes into that feeling.

But not in Concord. We're portrayed as the enemy there and I felt very much that I shouldn't be there. It's very much put over as "Brits out" as being a "good thing". First time I ever understood where the Irish Americans were coming from.

 

Arnold