Window shopping, and more conversations with strangers

Sometimes I wonder where these conversations come from! This time I found myself talking to a sales assistant in a department store – I’ll call her Belinda.

Belinda is a great sales person I might add, not pushy at all – she convinced me to buy something I was dithering over, and highlighted what good value the thing was (at £25 reduced from £65) and how practical and useful it would be – she was right.

Anyway, Belinda has had enough of London – totally done with it, done with customers being rude to her, feeling stressed and ill after a cramped ‘sardine in a tin’ commute, back and forth from work, not to mention all the politics at work, and the ridiculous cost of living.

We had one of those ‘putting the world to rights’ type conversations – listing all the woes of the world, and how it was time to get back to nature, fresh air and a healthy distance from the social media crazy rat race.

Belinda will be heading off to Ireland very soon, for good – I could tell that just talking about it was making her feel uplifted, I felt pleased for her, and hope she finds happier days, months and years ahead.

Now that her daughter is a young adult, Belinda feels it’s the right time to make a big move for herself, leaving her daughter to choose whether to follow her or stay in London.

A Mother’s wish

Belinda spoke warmly of her daughter, and how she’d raised her alone, a single parent; she shared some of the worries she’d been through during some of those tricky teenage years, the things all parents worry about I guess.

Belinda just wants her daughter to be happy – “she doesn’t have to be a brain surgeon or highfalutin professional on a fat salary” just as long as she’s happy with her life, mum/Belinda will be happy too – what more could a mum ask for, just simple joys!