Café scene

We were in a café in a small Somerset town. On the table next to us, sitting opposite each other were two elderly ladies, pleasantly chatting quietly to each other. Next to them was another couple who were preparing to leave as we sat down and beyond them was a grandmother, mother and twin children, aged about eighteen months. The couple getting ready to leave, left, and the mother, grandmother and twins were also getting up to go. One of the twins crawled along the seats and the elderly ladies made baby talk. As the twins mother gathered them up and left, another woman came and sat down next to one of the old ladies, and her young daughter, aged about sixteen sat opposite. This woman looked about fiftyish and had a red coat on.

Mrs Red Coat: (to the old ladies, in a loud voice) They were twins weren’t they?
Old lady: Yes, I think they were…
Mrs R.C.: How old were they?
OL: I’m not sure, about eighteen months maybe.
Mrs R.C.: Were they two boys or a boy and a girl?
OL: I’m not really sure, boys I think…
Mrs R.C.: You’re not very nosy, are you? You should have asked, I would have!
OL: (polite mumble)

There was then a conversation between the woman and the old ladies about twins and how difficult it must be to have young twins, and then whether it got any easier as they got older.

Mrs R.C.: Mind you, I had three children under five, that wasn’t easy, and it didn’t get any easier. Have you any children? How old are they?
OL: (polite mumble)
Mrs R.C.: It’s better to have children near each other in age, there’s twelve years between me and my sister and we didn’t really know each other when we were children, I was just annoying to her… Do you have any brothers and sisters, what’s the age gap between you and them?

The old ladies obligingly told her, and there was a conversation about the old ladies children and grandchildren.

Mrs R.C.: Are you on a day trip here? Where are you from?
OL: Wales…
Mrs R.C.: My daughter is in Wales, she’s in Cardiff doing her degree, well, I say doing her degree but she spends most of her time out with friends, that’s what young people are like…

One of the old ladies said her grandchildren were at University too and one grandson was in China.

Mrs R.C.: In China? I bet he earns a fortune doesn’t he! How much does he get then, what’s his salary?

This conversation was conducted at the top of her voice and having quickly finished our coffee and cakes, we left… There is being friendly and there is being nosy…