Kissing

Going for a fishy kiss

or as the French say "faire la bise", is an art that is not always so easy to master. I mean first you have the different regions where they either do two kisses, one on each cheek or you have areas where they do three and even some regions where they do four kisses. I mean one on one cheek and then one on the other and then back to the first cheek and finishing off back on the second. You really have to know and this is only in France; Heaven knows what they get up to in the other Mediterranean countries.

The other conundrum is whom do you kiss. Foreigners frequently make mistakes here and think you kiss everybody you know, but no no no. There is a protocol even here, but generally children always kiss adults as a greeting when they are friends of the family. You kiss your friends and family and sometimes your friend's friends.

In high school teenage girls kiss both their male and female classmates, every morning. Boys kiss the girls and shake hands with other mates, again, every morning. I used to be so intrigued by this, I would sit outside school for a while in my car after having dropped the kids off, just observing this little endearing ritual.

The same kissing procedure is also common in a workplace, where the female workers kiss each other and also the male workers, and the male workers shake hands. Of course you don't kiss your boss. I worked in a place with mostly foreigners and we sadly didn't kiss.

Here in Australia they also kiss but just once. However if you are family or close friends you can also kiss on the mouth. Obviously it is just a peck, not a long lingering kiss but still, I was quite taken aback at first. If you are of the older generation, like my dear departed father-in -aw, you tend to shake hands, I think. At least that is what he did with hubby when we were picked up at the airport for my first visit to Australia. I thought it was a bit cold at first, since they hadn't seen each other for years, but I guess it was a very hearty handshake and he had tears in his eyes.

In Sweden it is a little different. Of course you have the people who have traveled the world and who have adopted the cheek kissing or rather kissing in the air since most people don't even touch your cheek with their lips. But generally we Swedes, like the Russians, hug, mostly big bear hugs full frontal. Sometimes it's manly touching of the shoulder in a hug while also shaking hands, it depends. Hubby finds these hugs difficult and can't help himself going into Sheldon mode .

Here is another way of greeting each other, rubbing noses,
Maori style. It has not taken off in Europe yet though.

Let me see, what is there to tell otherwise. Oh yes, our Swedish friends, from the north of Sweden are here visiting their daughter and her family. They came to our house for a barbecue last week, on the hottest day for a long time. I think it reached +40°C. It was okay though, thanks to the pool, but I am not allowed to publish any pool photos.  I wonder why!

The parrot is King!

My tomatoes are coming on and the first one to savour one of them was this King parrot, who comes around now and then. I guess they have to eat too, but I wish they would finish their food. He just took one nibble and let it drop.

So, time to say goodbye. Thank you for reading. Wishing everyone a good week! Hope to see you back soon!