Exceptions to the rule

On my way back to Tamworth station, the taxi driver started chatting to me about London and how he hates the tube. Interestingly though not for the reasons us Londoners tend to hate the tube: over-crowded, too hot in the summer, getting pushed around etc. No, he didn't like the fact that we (generally) sit in silence. Which is probably the only redeeming factor from my point of view.

He said that up north everyone just chats to everyone. While people in London would probably regard you as a nutter or worse a terrorist or otherwise criminal if you started talking to strangers. I do get his point though and it's one of the things I love about America/Americans - I've written this on my blog before: isn't it much nicer to go through your day with little friendly interactions?

Having said this, some of the women invited to the networking event weren't behaving very 'Northern' at all. Indeed, the host sat next to me completely blanked me throughout dinner. Until she overheard me talk about my Hong Kong trip, which she took as the opportunity to talk about her own trip to HK. To be honest, I didn't have much interest in having a conversation with this overweight barbie lookalike (sorry, those are facts! I'm not bitter at all ;-) To be honest, had I been her, I would have probably taken the opportunity to speak to the handsome bloke to her other side, too - even though as a host, that's not really how it should work, is it?) and was having a nice time chatting to the person opposite me - who had lived in London for more than a decade.

Exceptions that prove the rule?! I wonder...