Clever Man Clever Woman

It was a flying visit to Fife to collect L. His last exam was yesterday.

I used the excursion to drop off some calendars on the way.

Though I have left one on his Abernethy doorstep on previous years, Ian a former colleague from my days with a construction company, I have always missed him face to face. This morning he was working outside at his garage so we had a wee blether. I think we last met about 1996. Now retired, he was (is) a materials expert and has worked on projects around the UK and abroad  It was lovely to have a fleeting chat.
Onward across north Fife I stopped briefly in Cupar too for Vik (Jura's Mum, Jura is Archie's sister)
At L's flat I announced my arrival and sped off on foot to the town centre for some stocking fillers. Same time as last year, same shop, I tentatively asked a lady at the counter how her son's studies were going. Her shop had been much quiter then and had allowed a "blether" to unfold about our respective son's studies. She must have asked what had brought me to the town. Anyway; she recalled our previous chat clearly (our boys have uncannily similar sounding names so that probably helped) He is  doing really well at Uni in Wales and is working on his final year material.

Another shop, a curious lady at the counter asked if I was on a special organised trip. I accept that carrying a wee tripod at my side in the town must look a bit odd, I explained the reason for my visit and where home was; near Ben Nevis in the Highlands. She spoke excellent English with what I thought was a Spanish accent. She was from Columbia and her husband had an academic post at the University. I felt a bit sheepish talking about our high Highland mountains.
I knew Columbia was mountainous and asked how high the tallest peak in her homeland was. She wasn't sure. Not because of this, I swithered about a purchase but left the shop empty handed.
Half an hour later I was cursing not having made the purchase and returned. Before completing my transcation she first explained she had now Googled about my mountain query and now had all the facts to hand.
She said "I should know this"  and clearly not having the information at her fingertips had irked her. She didn't know this hesitant Highlander with a mountain interest was going to  come back, so credit to her and her desire to research.