Message to the lady at our hotel in Dahab

Hey there lady.

Why did you take my photograph at breakfast?

I saw you do it.

Me:"Excuse me, did you just take my picture?"

I know you heard me. But you just looked at me sideways and then pretended to be busy with your toast.

So I asked you again. Maybe you didn't realise I was talking to you. There was no one else at breakfast. And there were only three tables, less than a foot apart. But I am Canadian, so I gave you the benefit of the doubt.

I cleared my throat and asked again: "Did you just take my picture?"

Weird French lady from Israel on vacation alone in Dahab: "Um. Yes."

Me: "Well, I would rather you didn't. Take my picture, that is."

WFLfIoVAiD: "Why?"

Me: "Because I don't know you."

You looked like this was new information that you could not understand. So I tried to elaborate: "And I don't know where that photo is going to go."

You looked confused.

WFLfIoViD: "But I want to keep it for my memories."

Which would have been fine if we had ever spoken. But we never did. Not even once.

Me: "Well, I think it is just common courtesy to ask before you take someone's photo."

You were right to put your camera into your bag and scurry off to your room. Could you see in my eyes that I was planning to grab it and erase my photo from your memory stick? In the process, the camera might have been knocked out of your hands. We would have watched helplessly as it smashed into a million pieces on the terracotta floor.

But you were too quick for me.

I wonder what you will say to your friends when you go back home and show them my photo. Will you say that we had breakfast together? Because that would be really sad. And untrue. I might feel sorry for you, weird French lady who now lives in Israel, but I'm still mad that you took my photo without asking me first. That was rude.