I hate rudeness.

Yesterday we had a business meeting in Ramsey so thought we'd take the opportunity to have lunch out.  We went to Gopher's; nice place with excellent freshly-prepared food.  The only problem, if it is one, is that customers often have to share tables.  Gopher's is rightly popular.

So there we were eating our baguettes (warm, with gooey cheese and salad - delicious) and a couple of scruffy-ish men asked if they could join us.  No problem with that and we'd nearly finished anyway.  Then they started to talk to us.

Now I like a good skeet (Manx = chat/gossip) as much as anyone, but I've rarely come across anybody as rude as one of these two men.  He gave his order to the waitress in a bored voice while playing with his phone and without  having the courtesy to look at her.  He quizzed us loudly about Loaghtan Books, didn't listen to our answers, and seemed to think that we were second-hand book sellers, remarking that he'd have to get in touch as he'd books to sell.  I love second-hand book shops (Martin, are you reading this?), but that's not what we do.  As we told him.  Several times.

When he could get a word in edgeways, his mate was OK, but the rude man, whose name I do know but had better not say here, was arrogant, overbearing and let it be known that we were very fortunate that he was deigning to talk to us at all.  And he used to be an MHK.  Not a good advertisement for the island.  We kept trying to escape but they'd largely fenced us in behind the table, so we had to be quite insistent before he'd let us out.  That made us late for our business meeting.

The trouble is, being polite ourselves, we were hampered by good breeding.  Both of us longed to tell this bloke what an arrogant little tick he was, but neither of us did because it would have been rude.  So people like him rely on the good nature of others to get away with their rudeness.

It made me realise why the Manx have the saying 'there's a boat in the morning'.  Let's hope he's on it.  And it sinks.

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