James’s story reminded me of an incident I had about a couple of years ago and how misunderstandings are so easy. A friend from Africa invited me for lunch. Now I have learnt that if you are invited for lunch by someone from Africa, this might mean that someone has taken the trouble to cook all day, grind beans, stew for hours and you are going to get something delicious. I told my lovely friend that I would be there between 11 and 11.30 and much to my surprise, she was really cross. I eventually realised that she thought I would arrive at 11.00, scoff (eat) her food and go half an hour later. I would have been really cross myself if anyone had done that to me. When I realised, I explained that it meant that that was the time I would arrive and I definitely would stay for lunch and the end of the story was that the lunch was great.
Anyone got any examples like this?
