About a Welshman

In Wales we met a gentleman who gave us a great example of British politeness. He was walking through the mountains and came across a British couple. They exchanged their hellos and discussed possible routes as is apparently customary in the mountains, or rather on the mountaintops. He was about to continue his walk when the lady asked where he was from. But before he could answer, she added: “You’re from Norway, aren’t you? I’ve heard that accent before!” He was baffled by that idea, and speechless for a moment. But after regaining his composure he said: “Yes, indeed, that’s exactly right, I’m Norwegian.” He figured that he and that couple would never meet again, so this little white lie would be preferable to the truth, which was that he had been living in Milton Keynes, which is between Cambridge and Oxford, for most of his life, but that he was born and raised in Wales. He was as British as that couple, but as a Britishman too polite to possibly make her feel foolish about her completely wrong assumption.