Conversation With A Young Britt

Bodnant Gardens

We visited  Bodnant Gardens on our way out of Wales.  It is a magnificent part of the National Trust with miles of trails through formal gardens, fields, forest, ponds, streams and pools.  

Zan, with camera in hand was constantly on the lookout for the right angle on nearly every plant for her floral series.  She was laying on some rocks working on some water lilies when a father arrived with his two children.  The son wanted to get closer to the pond to look for polliwogs and Zan was in the flower zone and I had to break her trance to let the children pass by.  Upon hearing my accent the father saw an opportunity for his children to speak with some real Americans.  She he introduced himself and his children as we introduced ourselves.  

We told them were we were from, Oregon and its geographical location and all about where we lived.  The daughter was shy and reserved, but the boy had a lot of questions about the animals that are native to where we lived.  I can imagine him envisioning the wild west wilderness when we told him about black bears, cougars and Roosevelt elk.  We told him of the sea lions, beavers and otters.  The father seemed delighted of what we were offering by way of conversation.  We told them that we have horses and honey bees at our house.

After we ran through all the animal stories we could think of, the lads attention opened up to another type of question.  He asked, "Have you ever met Elvis Presley?"  Seeing us as older Americans, I had to tell him that Elvis was more popular with my older sisters' generation.  He was disappointed, but I did mention some of the famous Americans I've met which he hadn't heard of, but who his father was keen to hear about.  

It was a fine time spent.  This was a good father trying by every means to enrich the intellect of his children.  As time went on I wondered about his fascination with Elvis.  Where did it come from?  I doubt that there are a lot 10 year old Americans who know or even care about Elvis.if they've heard of him.  Most Americans I know think of Elvis as a parody of himself.

Later on in the trip I noticed that a lot of smaller eateries and coffee shops in the UK play American 50's music in their establishments.  It happened in several places in Bath, York and London.  I think they just love the stuff.  Personally I would have preferred to hear British music from the 50's.