July 26. Day 208. Strangely reflective

Today I had a very strange exchange with a man on the street. This big burly bloke was unloading his van at West End as I walked passed.
In a very jolly, almost sing-song voice he said: "Good afternoon. How's it going?"
Me: "Fine thanks. And you?"
Him: "Shit house actually".
Okay then. Why don't you tell me how you really feel?
Funny isn't it that we so often ask people variations on the "how are you?" question but there's an unspoken rule that you are only allowed to accent the positive?
It's a strange pantomime we go through.
The woman at the checkout really has no desire to hear how my day has been, so why does she ask?
Had I bothered to think about it rather than just give the expected answer I would have said it didn't start that well but a long walk cleared my head and I was rather happy with the photo I took at West End. It summed up my strangely reflective mood.
Truth is, it really doesn't hurt to spend a bit of time actually reflecting on how it is going. We should take stock. We should ask those around us how they are feeling and we should listen and reflect on how we can help if things are not travelling so well.
But if you don't care about the answer, don't ask the question.
Reflect on that if you will.