At dinner last night the lovely waitress, Esther, asked me about the book I was reading (a Peter Wimsey novel). That led to a whole conversation about British crime shows and books. She mentioned the Shetland series by Ann Cleeves which got us on to the Scottish islands and I said I’d lived in Orkney. At that point a woman at another table leaned over and said, “Orkney? I love Orkney. I did some work there.” Well that got us chatting and when she explained that she was there working with tidal energy (using the ocean to generate power is big in Orkney), the man at another table leaned in and said, “Tidal energy? I work with Power Canada.” (or something like that – I just remember it had the word ‘power’ in it) – and that started a whole three-table conversation, plus the waitress. That in turn led to my east coast travels (table 3 was from Cape Breton).
We must have all chatted amongst ourselves for a good 20 minutes, sharing photos, comparing notes, making recommendations. It was an absolutely delightful way to end my stay at Oceanstone.
Oh, and the couple at table 2? – both the husband and the wife are named Robin. Not their last name, they’re Robin & Robin Smith, or Jones, or whatever. Statistically surprising.