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Hello Lewis,
Just a quick question before I must be off to work: Do you really say "I haven't been ANYWAY of historical interest...?" I would have opted for "anywhere", but of course we are always trying to pick up new expressions from our teachers.
Thanks for your assistance and I hope there won't be many more occasions when your wife would call you "yudedako"...
Elisabeth (Austria)

Hi everybody,
Okay, forget about the above comment! Somebody obviously has re-written the phrase I was referring to. So yesterday's comment makes me look like an idiot :(
Elisabeth (Austria)

@Elisabeth: I read Lewis's entry two days ago and you're right, somebody has changed ANYWAY into ANYWHERE. I suppose it was just a typing mistake and than Lewis correct it.

@Elisa: Great, you are my witness! By the way, there is another typing error in the text. Have you noticed? (Mind you, I am not a mean person normally, just continuing the game: Will it have been removed the next time I come on here?)

Elisabeth (Austria)

@Elisabeth: it's not a matter of being mean at all. I really think you are improving the service. Unfortunately I can't stay on track with you, I have no idea about the other error you noticed. Please tell us.

Hi Lewis,
sorry if "linguistic" analysis kept us from commenting the topic of your entry, but I think you know how learners have a tendency to analyse even small features.

By the way, reading your entry bring me back to October 2009, when I spent a month in Dublin. I attended an English course and met very nice teachers there. They used to teach us not only English, but provided useful advice concerning Dublin. "don't visit only Temple Bar, it's a tourist trap, you pay too much for a beer there". I remember a teacher once drew a rough Dublin's map pointing out where you could find this or that. I've found that those natives who have regular contact with foreigners develop a particular sensitivity and are always well-disposed to advice them for good. Of course, expecting the same patience from everyone it's not possible... The world is full of tourist traps (fostered by tourists themselves), but I think it's worth running the risk.

have a good day,

Elisa, Italy

Dear Lewis,
No harm meant! Thank you very much for those very nice lines at the end of your article - makes me feel better...
As regards your experience with London, not appreciating its merits because it's simply so near - same here with me and Vienna. I'm forever planning to visit one or another sight which I've never been to or haven't seen for a really long time, but I never get round to doing it. I think it would help to have visitors from abroad... But of course, they are very good at making people pay through the nose in Vienna as well.
@Elisa: 2nd paragraph, 2nd line, 7th word... And I've been "trapped" in Dublin Temple Bar. And in various other parts of Ireland. Beautiful country!
See you around,
Elisabeth (Austria)

Dear Lewis,

I think you’ve heard about Rabindranath Tagore, a well-known poet, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in literature. I remember one of his verses as soon as I read your writing and get your view.

The verse is here in Bengali:
Bohu din dhore, bohu krosh dure,
bohu byay kori, bohu desh ghure,
Dekhite giyachhi parbotmala, dekhite giyachhi sindhu,
Dekha hoy nai chokkhu meliya,
Ghar hote shudhu dui pa feliya,
Ekti dhaner shisher upore ekti shishir bindu.

Translated into English:
I traveled miles, for many a year,
I spent a lot in lands a far,
I’ve gone to see the mountains, the oceans I’ve been to view.
But I haven’t seen with these eyes
Just two steps from my home lies
On a sheaf of paddy grain, a glistening drop of dew.

I do agree with you that we ignore something on our doorstep in most cases. Thanks for this nice piece.

Anyway, I don’t understand clearly two words in your blog. One is ‘To make ends meet’ and the other is ‘See the tourists coming a mile off’. Would you please explain the meaning of those two?

Thanks.

Ashish, Bangladesh.

Hi Lewis,

I say sorry for missing another issue.
In your blog I find the following sentence:
'I can understand from its history that is draws a lot of people from all over the world'.

I'm a bit confused about it. Is it correct? Or it would be such a way:
'I can understand from its history that it draws a lot of people from all over the world'.

Thanks.

Ashish, Bangladesh.

hi Lewis! thanks for this new vocabulary! "to pay through the nose". it's funny, i like it. for the moment i all have them in my mind. but i know what will happen in the next few months.(i'll forget them.but i'm happy because i know i'll forget,so i'll not be discouraged and i'll try to learn them again and again and forever and ever and etc...) (^_^)Thanks a lot.

Dear Ashish,
Thank you for this wonderful poem by R. Tagore. He certainly was a very wise man, and he is well-loved in my country, too.
I can see that your questions haven't been answered yet. Let me give it a try:
"to make ends meet" is used when somebody is struggling to earn enough to be able to buy food, to pay rent, to cater for his/her basic needs. So for example: When she lost her job and there was noone to support her, she could barely make ends meet.
"See the tourists coming a mile off" simply means that one can recognise
people as tourists from very far away (and get ready to offer them whatever one has to offer at whatever price one thinks is appropriate for tourists.)
These are just my own attempts at definition - maybe somebody else knows better...
Now I'll be off, trying to have an eye for those glistening drops of dew, or rather "rain" in Austria today ...
Best wishes -
Elisabeth (A)