BRIEF ENCOUNTER

I meet some interesting people whilst travelling. Yesterday I got chatting to a 50 something lady at Geneva airport who had moved there on business five years ago. She loves it and would never consider living anywhere else. Switzerland is home. Eventually the conversation came around, as it usually does, to the “decline of Britain”.

She has two children who decided to stay in England to complete their education hence the reason for her trip. She is inspecting prospective Universities with her daughter who is studying medicine. Unfortunately, the prospect of the daughter actually plying her trade in Britain is nil. She intends to work abroad when qualified because the quality of life is better and she will probably not be offered a job in Britain anyway!

The son is at Loughborough University where that was a shooting last weekend in which six people were injured. It was at that point she rested her case and we boarded the plane to be parted forever.

Two lives that touched and bonded for a few minutes and so many questions unanswered. Who moved there on business, her or (if there was one) her husband? what business?, why exactly had the two children decided to stay in England? what is her new life in Geneva like? And many, many more.
Now I shall never know.