(In looking for a creative way to reference the UK, I came across mention of Albion, which is apparently the oldest known name of the island of Great Britain, derived from the Celtic and referring more initially to the area that is now Scotland I think... Albany is the Anglicized version, so I am guessing that's where New York got its capital's name.)

But that's not why I brought you here today.

Apparently, I am very nice. I’ve been told this by 3 of our regular delivery gentlemen here in London (UPS, ParcelForce, and DPD); by the store manager I most frequently see in Whole Foods (yes, we have WFs here—dinky versions); by the British Gas company inspector, who said I was the single nicest person whose home he had ever visited; and by the entire staff at the chiropractor’s office down the street, who apparently discussed the subject over drinks(!) at one of their work outings soon after I became a patient.

Here’s what makes it a real chin-scratcher, though. Most of the time, I’m really struggling; I feel pretty shitty. I suppose it is nice to know that at my crankiest I can still manage to be nice to the people I come across. But what is really remarkable is, what on earth are English people really like? I don’t feel like I’m going above and beyond. I’m friendly, yes, but in a polite way. Not in a Mother Theresa, have-the-coat-off-my-back-and-my-last-dollar (pound) way. And yet it is apparently so unusual an attitude that it is repeatedly mentioned to my face how pleasant people find interacting with me. No one ever said bupkiss to me about it in the States, so it’s definitely an ego boost to live amongst the apparently frigid and unemotional robots of the UK. Still, I will say that given the daily attendance rates in pubs beginning at noon or sometimes before (including and maybe especially the corporate types on their rather extended "lunch" breaks), I would have thought people around here would loosen up enough under so much “influence” to keep their local butcher from hating them. Well, that’s ok. It means better service for me if this occasionally grumpy invalid is the nicest person in the country. (Even if it is somewhat appalling.)

Booya.