I was at some point, a couple of years ago, challenged to write a post not using the letter “E”.  I managed to do it, but it was difficult.  I am now at “N” in the the A-Z Blogging Challenge, and am stuck.  Why?  N should be an easy word to find something to blog about.  So, I thought I would try an “N” challenge – write a post with no Ns.  Can it be done?  We shall see.

Years ago, times were simpler. People trusted people, people asked others for help. Here is a story about three girls, who travelled to places far away. They had travelled to Italy, to a place outside the city filled with waterways,  fellows with straw hats, who pushed boats through the water filled highways.  The girls walked through the streets of Mestra, a suburb of the historical city. They were peckish, with empty stomachs.  The weather was cold, damp, their toes were frigid. They were lost. As they walked, through the dark, misty streets,  the search for food seemed more arduous, more hopeless, with each street they passed. This was a time before GPS, Yelp.  This was the time, before Google, maps were the solitary aid, as well as people to ask.

They espied a guy. A very dapper fellow, appropriately attired for the frightful weather. He had a bright red umbrella. They asked him how to get to the place with food. He shrugged his shoulders.  He did however speak Arabic, very little words of Italy. A girl too spoke Arabic.  She asked the dapper fellow if he could direct them to places with food.  He was poorly versed about the areas places with food. He waved a guy over, who ambled up. This fellow looked like he was from the area, he was aware of the places with food, plus where they were located. But he talked with words people from Paris spoke, as well as the words of Italy. As luck would have it, the other girl also spoke the words of Paris.

The third girl, spoke words of America, plus less comfortably, words of Bavaria. She was useless (that was me). The Arabic fellow spoke to the girl who also spoke Arabic, she asked him if he could use his words of Italy, to ask the guy from the area about places to get food. He faced the guy, repeated the words with words from Italy. The guy from the area faced the girl who spoke words from Paris, she relayed his replies with words from America. The girls waved their Adieus to the guy from the area, as well as the dapper fellow with the red umbrella. The girls set off to locate the place with food, as they were aware of how to get there, as well as warm their toes.

Maybe those times were actually more complicated, but absolutely much more memorable.

This really is a true story.