I know the feeling. [ It's a polite kind of statement, but there's a kernel of earnestness in it. She lifts her elbow up a little higher, considering he's taller than she is, and the last thing Judith wants to do is poke out a stranger's eye in her first month in the UK.

Her cheeks turn pink at the comment about her boots — they're colorful, and she kind of likes that, how people dress in the dreary city weather around here. There's a little dip in the sidewalk and her heel splashes into the tiny puddle as she steps, the pattern on her ankle looking comedically big through the droplet of water before it falls away. ]

Thanks. I thought they looked— cheerful? I don't know. I was kind of hoping for good weather.