I’m sure that, from time to time, everyone experiences tiny, fleeting events which just prick your interest. Small details of your day which catch your attention and make you pleased. Something happened on my way home this afternoon which I need to record.

It had been quite a nice afternoon: I had taken one of my favourite walks along the river Lea to Stratford. I was getting hungry so I had taken the Jubilee Line back. At North Greenwich, though, there was a bunch of kids whizzing around on rollerblades. They were going quite fast, and one almost crashed into me. There are signs throughout the station saying that skating of any kind is not allowed.

I began to get a bit pissed off, so I decided to go and find a member of station security. Luckily that didn’t take very long, and a woman with a young daughter was already talking to him about the very same problem. The security guy explained that they had had a lot of complaints about the skaters, but there was very little they could do about it. What stuck in my ears, however, was that he actually said “There is nowt we can do.”

“Nowt” is a word which I don’t think I had heard anyone use in over fifteen years. It is, of course, a word used in the North-West of England which means “nothing”. You never hear it here in London, so it instantly caught my attention, sending me back to the place where I grew up. To hear someone use a word like that was very surprising – even shocking, in a way.

After the conversation about the skaters was over, I asked the security guy where he was from, and he told me Manchester. Of course, he had quite a thick Mancunian accent which contrasted with the Eastern London accents which I’m now so used to. I naturally replied that I am from Cheshire. It was only a brief incident, and I was soon on my way; but as I rode the bus back to Eltham I couldn’t help reflecting how unusual it was to hear such a word, even in this metropolis of so many languages. Hearing someone use it felt homely and rural, whisking me instantly back to the small towns and villages I grew up in, reminding me that perhaps they weren’t all that far away after all. You know, such small reminders of where you come from can really brighten your day.