You feel hurt if you are interrupted by someone who says "so you said before"? I frequently thought it but these days I dare to say it since I noticed my daughter does and... it doesn't seem to harm. At least not if it's said to the siblings and friends. So slowly I changed into someone who says it too, once in a while but I do. I no longer see any point in listening to the same old story over and over again at those rare times I can sit and want to enjoy the silence or concentrate on what I like to do.
I guarantee you it's not the elderly only who keep repeating themselves like society makes us believe. Nearly everyone has, children included this habit and some simply forget they just spoke only a few hours ago.
Those who keep narrating don't do so for the same reason. A part of the repeaters keeps talking out of enthusiasm for a subject. They read something and love to share this knowledge with you no matter if you heard it before, know it for ages or it's not of your interest.
Children for example are smart. They know if the one they are talking to doesn't pay attention, they know if you don't copy what goes on in their head. It makes sense to them to tell you the same story over and over again till certain response proofs you at least listened.
Being a parent is tricky if you do not pay attention because you are busy with something else. Children can respond unexpectedly if you react with "you said that before" like mine does. He stares at you and says "I don't care I tell it anyway".
"Look at those trees! What are these?" my child asks while pointing at the trees we pass by.
In some way, the gnarled trees remind me of those good old trees I was used to and no longer see today. The pollard willows... I guess you mainly find them in the west, the part of the country I grew up. Grassland, river, canals... the willow loves water. I never saw anyone took care of them, cut them so they but again in the way, I associate with the Dutch landscape. For sure you find them in the north part of the country as well. The part of the country where farmers live but the landscape is different and so are the people. They aren't that open to strangers and strangers are those who don't live where they live.
We have our habits, our dialect and Fries is a language not taught at schools to the rest of the nation. Understanding each other is already hard enough, accepting is even harder even if we are all called Dutch.
The pollard willows, grassland with black and white cows are rare today. The cows... all killed after the mad cowness disease and we go for genetic manipulation today but also figured out that cows don't like to be outside in the cold. They walk back to the stable, one that's heated and a massage is waiting for them. I understand why they go for that instead of the rainy depressing days and just making the landscape look good for that handful of people passing by.
Hotels... I've been in many and with hotels and hotel rooms it's the same as with restaurants.
The word room is used for every type of room (place) you wouldn't dare to call a hotel room years ago. With years ago I mean my childhood and most likely not yours.
The words "hotel" and "restaurant" both make you believe you pay for quality. At least once it mentioned quality. And if it comes to quality you expect something good. If it comes to good I do not only mean how the room is decorated, its cleanliness and being provided with bedsheets and towels but the service given by the hotel as well!
The opposite is true especially if it comes to service and the customer being king. So far the biggest disappointment if it comes to hotels turns out to be Spain for me. The experiences I had been good enough to not return to this country. Dirty rooms, sheets causing allergies and cockroaches on the buffet are some of the issues I had to deal with. No fun with children and a total waste of money. This vacation was not what I expected after paying such a high price but it taught me something. Some countries take their customers, tourists for granted and simply do not care if you are satisfied or get seriously ill. Although those who work there are instructed not to invest in customer service and take the money with investing as little as possible I want what I paid for.
You rarely receive what is promised. Those prospects make it clear if you study them and invest time to do your research. Hotels, restaurants, travel agencies hardly care about updating their information. Showing photos over ten years old is common and it may be clear that if this is the only thing you see you will be disappointed and even feel more disappointed if you end up in a culture you do not feel comfortable with. A culture where everyone believed you are rich (even if you saved for 7 years) and where men love to take your money but treat you worse than a dog because you are a woman or worse single mom.
Most likely everything I wrote above I said before and if not I thought it or published it somewhere once before.
You rarely receive what is promised.