Wherever me and Pete go, one of the things that we love to do is stop off for a coffee somewhere.

It’s like an unspoken rule; it’s our law. I always say that I’m watching the world go by, when in fact what I’m really doing is good, old-fashioned, down-to-earth nosying.

I just can’t help myself. My ears are like tiny radars, they pick up anything and everything that I find interesting.

Just watching and listening to strangers should be a recognised art - it takes years of practice to be as good as I am.

Pete on the other hand has enough trouble hearing what I say, let alone someone sat three tables down, so by reading the expression on my face he constantly keeps asking me what they’re saying, but obviously I can’t tell him.

Firstly, because I’d have to talk loudly and everyone would hear me and know that I’m listening in to their conversations and secondly by the time I’d filled him in on all the gossip I’d have missed the rest of the conversation…

I love to watch just how expressive folk are when they talk. There’s the constant nodding of the head, that lets the other person know that yes, I’m still listening or, yes, I agree.

Then there’s the hand movements - some could certainly work as traffic control police.

Sometimes it takes all of my self-control not to join in, in fact I must admit that on several occasions I have actually butted in and joined in, much to Pete’s annoyance.

The other day I was so engrossed in a conversation that these two women were having, that I actually made an excuse up to Pete to move tables nearer to them just so as I could hear better.

Now, that’s bad, and then just as it was getting to the juicy bits, they decided to leave.

What! I felt like telling them that they needed to let me know what her daughter’s friend decided to do, it was like spending all night watching a film only to find that the end is missing.

Arr! Sometimes, if there isn’t anything of interest to watch or listen to, I begin to invent secret lives for these poor, unsuspecting customers, who only came in for a sit down and a nice cuppa.

Little do they know that they’re now characters in my imagination. These are the ones that are usually on their own.

Could this person be waiting to meet with a lover? Or a secret love child? Or maybe they have committed a crime and are having their last moment of freedom before handing themselves in to the police? Of course, there is a slight possibility that they have just strolled into the cafe to sit and have a quite minute peacefully enjoying a beverage.

As I finish my coffee, I notice that there seems to be quite a lot of people coming into the cafe. Ooh, I think, I bet the police have cordoned off the area after hearing of suspicious activities going off in the cafe.

Ha! I think, yes, I was right - the woman in the green cardigan is a criminal after all. Or maybe they have had word that there is a strange woman sat listening in to everyone’s conversations in the cafe?

Well, all I can say is, thank goodness you can’t be arrested for being nosey.