Inspired by 1finny's entry on the "the greatest" thread I wondered what is the greatest thing I've ever done.
The thing that still makes me smile the most was bumping into two Japanese tourists in a pub in London who were having trouble understanding the menu, inviting them to join us (me and a mate) and explaining the menu with lots of mime and animal noises, and laughter. We discovered, through trading translation dictionary pages (this was before mobile phones) that they'd just flown in, were here for 10 days, visiting numerous towns from London west then north, before visiting Glasgow and flying home from Edinburgh.
My mate and I have a mutual friend who is part of a family of Glasgow cab drivers. We wrote him a letter and wrote the name of a (not unrough, though now gone) pub in Glasgow where cab drivers congregate. About 2 weeks later I received a call from my mate: "The McGowan family are heroes, but me and you are gods!" Turns out one afternoon in Glasgow this not unrough pub was full and smoky. The doors opened and two attractive Japanese girls stepped in. They took one look at the punters and the pub, turned round and walked out. A minute later they walked back in. At this behaviour all the drinkers became interested and grew quiet. This wasn't a pub that tourists would go to. The Japanese girls walked up to the bar to be obsequiously welcomed by the landlord, whose only experience of dealing with foreigners was ridiculing lost englishmen. They ordered two lemonades and handed him the letter addressed to our cab driving friend. "Mr McGowan the Younger" the landlord called, everyone looked at him, "It appears you have two guests." Our friend, utterly nonplussed, stood up and walked to the bar. The girls bowed and handed him the letter. He read it. "So are you going to introduce us?" called one of the drinkers. "It's M&M (our surnames shortened) he answered. "They've told these girls Glasgow is the friendliest city they'll visit on the tour of Britain, but only if you talk to cabbies." Long story short the girls were adopted by Glasgow's cabbies for a couple of days, they rearranged their flights to stay a little longer, were taken all over the city, visiting the People's Palace, day trips beyond the city, guided tours of art galleries, a visit to Celtic Park (their first football game) and something of a big send off back in the pub and a drive to Edinburgh. They left our friend with a card saying Glasgow was easily the best and friendliest city they'd been to in all their travels. If I have one regret it's that my friend in London and I never swapped any addresses or numbers with the girls. But I smile still at the thought there are two (now) ladies in Japan who, to this day, will not have a word said against Glasgow, no matter what negative publicity may arise. And one of the things that the city itself should be proud of is that it was a Rangers season ticket holder that drove them to their first match and collected them after.
My, I feel a little inner warmth after writing that.
The thing that still makes me smile the most was bumping into two Japanese tourists in a pub in London who were having trouble understanding the menu, inviting them to join us (me and a mate) and explaining the menu with lots of mime and animal noises, and laughter. We discovered, through trading translation dictionary pages (this was before mobile phones) that they'd just flown in, were here for 10 days, visiting numerous towns from London west then north, before visiting Glasgow and flying home from Edinburgh.
My mate and I have a mutual friend who is part of a family of Glasgow cab drivers. We wrote him a letter and wrote the name of a (not unrough, though now gone) pub in Glasgow where cab drivers congregate. About 2 weeks later I received a call from my mate: "The McGowan family are heroes, but me and you are gods!" Turns out one afternoon in Glasgow this not unrough pub was full and smoky. The doors opened and two attractive Japanese girls stepped in. They took one look at the punters and the pub, turned round and walked out. A minute later they walked back in. At this behaviour all the drinkers became interested and grew quiet. This wasn't a pub that tourists would go to. The Japanese girls walked up to the bar to be obsequiously welcomed by the landlord, whose only experience of dealing with foreigners was ridiculing lost englishmen. They ordered two lemonades and handed him the letter addressed to our cab driving friend. "Mr McGowan the Younger" the landlord called, everyone looked at him, "It appears you have two guests." Our friend, utterly nonplussed, stood up and walked to the bar. The girls bowed and handed him the letter. He read it. "So are you going to introduce us?" called one of the drinkers. "It's M&M (our surnames shortened) he answered. "They've told these girls Glasgow is the friendliest city they'll visit on the tour of Britain, but only if you talk to cabbies." Long story short the girls were adopted by Glasgow's cabbies for a couple of days, they rearranged their flights to stay a little longer, were taken all over the city, visiting the People's Palace, day trips beyond the city, guided tours of art galleries, a visit to Celtic Park (their first football game) and something of a big send off back in the pub and a drive to Edinburgh. They left our friend with a card saying Glasgow was easily the best and friendliest city they'd been to in all their travels. If I have one regret it's that my friend in London and I never swapped any addresses or numbers with the girls. But I smile still at the thought there are two (now) ladies in Japan who, to this day, will not have a word said against Glasgow, no matter what negative publicity may arise. And one of the things that the city itself should be proud of is that it was a Rangers season ticket holder that drove them to their first match and collected them after.
My, I feel a little inner warmth after writing that.
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