Free News Paper

I pick up free news papers on my way going to work. There are two kinds of free news papers, one is “Metro” and the other is “Evening News”. Both of them are issued by the same company. Metro is handed out from early in the morning till around 10:30am. After that time, “Evening News” is handed out. I go to work around 11:30 am, but still I want to get Metro as well. Sometimes some extra papers are left. I always ask the man who is handing out free news papers, whether there’s extra ones or not. He says,

“Your work must not be busy. Because you have time to read both papers, don’t you?”

I said, “I learn English from these papers.”

Him: “Leaning English from these papers? Come on. This English is rubbish.”

Me: “Do you hand everybody rubbish papers?”

Him: “Yes, I do. For making money;)”

He’s always kind and popular. Sometimes he talks with others. In that case, I just pick up news papers from the pile and leave. After some days, he says,

“I’ve not seen you for ages. Did you travel somewhere?”

Me: “You talked with someone else. You’re popular:)”

Him: “I’m not popular. The papers are popular.;)” “Even when I speak with someone else, you should say hello to me at least. OK?”

Me: “OK!”

We have nice talk sometimes.

Him: “Hello. Are you OK?”

Me: “Is “Are you OK?” just a greeting? What shall I say if people say “Are you OK?””

Him: “Just “I’m OK” in case you’re fine. Of course if you’re not fine, you can say” I feel terrible” or anything that describes your feeling.”

Me: “I see. At first I thought everybody was worrying about me. Because everybody asked me “Are you OK?””

Him: “No, it’s just a greeting. Or yeah, maybe everybody is worried about you;)”

British weather is terrible. Sometimes it rains with strong wind. Not many people use umbrellas. I thought it’s because of the strong wind.

Me: “My umbrella is broken. It doesn’t work here.”

Him: “Umbrella? It’s for girls. British men don’t use it. I never use it.”

Me: “Really?”

Him: “You know what? The rain helps my hair grow. See, I’m not bald. It works. You know people who wear hats are usually bald.”