On Monday Quinn and I went over to the Fergusons'. Quinn had been doing a job for Carol and needed to finish up, so I just chatted with her for a while. After he was done, Carol said, "Lord Monckton is here. His flight back to England was cancelled because of the Iceland volcano. Would you like to say hello?" I said sure -- I've met him before. So we went up to the library where he was working and started talking to him. Quinn shook his hand properly and said hello. Monckton told us about some projects he is involved in -- amazing stuff! He got into some detail about a promising new medical treatment that he and a doctor have been doing trials with. And he mentioned his work with a new fuel that will give your car 30% more miles per gallon. Then there's his anti-global warming work -- he was recently on Glenn Beck about that. Paul calls him a "polymath" but I think he better fits the definition of a "Renaissance man."
Anyway, so we went to go and I said goodbye/good luck and Quinn said nothing, just turned and left. I had just been writing an article on socialization among homeschoolers and saying how individual attention and instruction in proper behavior leads them to have good manners. So when we got out the door I said, "Quinn, you should have said 'Goodbye, nice to have met you' or some such thing." Then I looked at him and he had this dazed look on his face. He said to me, "THAT WAS THE MOST AMAZING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE!" That took me back a bit, and I started laughing. He said, "He's so very very British! I love listening to his accent, and all the little British-isms. So very proper! And he's so smart! Can we go to England?" When I hedged, he said, "Well, at least can you get me a T-shirt with a British flag on it?" So, since his birthday is next week, I did.
