An interesting conversation with Miss N today (who isn't a native English speaker, albeit her English is pretty good), as she recalled a colleague telling her that when British people ask "how are you" (which is how I greeted her at the door this morning) they aren't really expecting a ten minute explanation of exactly how you are...I admitted that the nuances of the English language can sometimes be confusing even to native speakers...and that the answer "I'm fine" can be equally baffling in terms of the breadth of circumstances it can cover.

Fortunately the shopping, apart from confusion over dates vs olives on the list, was not in any way subject to any nuance, although I do fear I left Miss N even more confused on the greeting front.