A lesson in English

I am fascinated by people who have a beautiful way with words.

I guess there will always come a time when you need to be reassuring and when that time arrives – it’s best if you are one of those people who can make the world seem peaceful and at ease, in but a single phrase.

You may, for example, know someone who is feeling the after effects of six months of extremely rash behaviour.

That person may, just for example, have quit a perfectly decent job in a profession they adore.

Perhaps they’ve walked out on a cosy riverside flat in the nation’s greatest city.

Maybe, they’ve said farewell to their gorgeous cocktail-loving friends and bought a ticket to a place they can barely pinpoint on a map.

Of course, it’s unlikely anyone would be so rash, but just in case you ever happen to meet such a feckless soul, I beg you … choose your language carefully (opening and closing your mouth like a fish, well, that doesn’t work so well).

If you are in need of guidance, you may like the following words of wisdom from Monika.

Monika is a project co-ordinator in Ecuador and apparently quite used to seeing her volunteers arrive, still reeling from the chaos of it all.

“Don’t be nervous,” she wrote to me today.

“Ecuador is a beautiful country and the people here is so friendly.

“This experience is going to change your vision of the live.”

Bang. There you have it. Check out that grammatically insane yet irresistibly divine little phrase.

This experience is going to change my ‘vision of the live’.

I fly on Friday.