I went to the DIY supermarket at the weekend to buy a set of metal shelves for our cellar.  The shelves, along with their metal supports, were packaged into polythene as a set.  The whole thing was quite a weight to carry, so I made a direct line for the checkout…

Now normally this would not be a problem.  I avoid people that might be in my way, and those that see me coming with such a heavy item would probably make way for me anyway.  But not this week.  Just as I was reached the checkout a young lady stepped out in front of me… and stopped!  Although she didn’t want to go actually to the checkout, she stood in front of it and blocked my way.

I gave here a look that said “this is heavy”, to which she looked at what I was carrying and said “you could put it down!”, and then continued to hold a conversation with someone else.

I was so speechless, that I didn’t even think to reply with “you could get out of my way” or something similar.  I was just amazed at how blunt she was.

Which leads me nicely on to write about a new site where my wife started blogging today.  On AllThingsBritish.net she is doing the exact opposite of what I blog about here – namely writing about British topics in German.  Today, by co-incidence, she has written about how difficult it is in some British shops to know which way to join a queue.

Later this week she will also start blogging about words that have, at some time or other, caused us confusion or at least led to a topical discussion on EnglishWordsExplained.

So if you can understand German then please take a look at the new sites and give her some feedback!