I’m sitting at my desk in the female campus, where most of the university is. I sit with the psychologists, social workers and counsellors – the academics that is. These are the greetings I’ve just heard called:
Salam Alaiykum (and the reverse)
Hi there! (Arabic accent)
Goeiemôre *
A very good morning (Indian accent)
Good morning madam (Filipino accent)
Hi there! (I’d say it’s a US accent but could have been Canadian)
Saludos! (a Native American from New Mexico)
Guten Tag (between me and an English Professor who’s German, and when speaking fluent English, has a Scottish accent**)
Just as well we’re in the understanding professions.
***
* Afrikaans
** Not sure why he’s in here
*** Apopros my journey to work today: a spectacular accident. A large lorry had managed to shed its load of 3×4x2m concrete slabs all over one exit and its opposing entry point of a roundabout. Either it had been going too fast, hounded by a 4×4 behind, or it had braked suddenly whilst doing a sharp right (to get out of the way of a 4×4). I was trying to get onto the roundabout. I sat there for about 15 minutes. Then the Police arrived escorting a rather large crane onto the roundabout. Chaos ensued. No one was letting those cars exiting in the fast lanes over to the slow, which was the only lane open and occupied by pick-up trucks. These pick-ups were being driven by Afghanis who sidled up to eachother if they’d been in the middle lane and engaged in lots of arm waving, inviting one or the other to go ahead, thus achieving half a pick-up on the hard shoulder and half of the pther pick-up straddling into the middle lane. In the meantime the drivers would be exchanging news and getting out to compare points on the pick-ups, much to the hooting of the 4×4 drivers in the fast lanes****. It all settled down after about 20 minutes when the policeman had the brainwave of stopping cars driving round the roundabout only to end up stuck behind the crane and thus needing to drive across the middle of the roundabout into the line of traffic exiting the slow lane.
**** I was most courteous, thanks.
