Questions at a Christmas Dinner

"If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?"

This was a question our table of ladies was asked, tonight. We were eating a chicken dinner and didn't know each other at all. So it was a reasonable question, I suppose, to ask. I sat chewing, thinking, until the scenery of a sandy shore and blue waters and a lighthouse flashed quickly into my mind.

One lady said she would travel to Europe with her million dollars. Another said she would like to go to Antarctica. My turn came, and I paused a bit; then, "If I had a million dollars I would buy a home in St Ives, Cornwall, and sit writing the Great American Novel."

The lady two seats to my left gasped. "Cornwall! My husband and I visited Cornwall and it rained THE ENTIRE TIME. In July! Perhaps there was a day, maybe two, when it was nicer.."

We talked then and later, all about Cornwall and the places we both had visited. "I was in Land's End." "Really? Me too!" Our table host then asked us the next question: "What books are your favorite to read?"

I sat, again chewing, thinking about my books. There are just so many of them, so many favorites. But since we had been thinking of Cornwall, I decided to come right out with the truth of the matter. "My favorite books to read are Rosamunde Pilcher books, which is why I keep going back to Cornwall."

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8254247@N02/14644488846/

The lady two seats away had left the room briefly and so had not heard my answer. When she returned, the table hostess asked her the question. It was my turn to gasp when I heard her say, "My favorite books to read are by Rosamunde Pilcher, which is what brought me to Cornwall." We all laughed and I'm afraid I made rather a fool of myself by loudly confirming (with gestures) that this lady was, in fact, brilliant. Rosamunde Pilcher books! Here was a truly potential friend, someone with whom I could talk Shell Seekers and Coming Home. It was worth the $20 I had paid for that dinner.

I don't know where I'm going with this one except to say that it is rather a small world, after all. And that there are other people like me who like it just as much. And that I really must get back to those darling cobbles, tea shops, and sand. In fact, perhaps I should just sidle on over to Virgin Atlantic and see what they have to say about ticket prices..

See you along the way!
the SconeLady


photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/8254247@N02/14644488846/">Firstbrook Just Click 100</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>