At a pub recently, a woman who was also queuing for a drink was bopping along to the background music, and she started singing a lil. I reflexively looked in her direction, which seemed to cause her to stop singing, presumably out of self consciousness. I was devastated that I had inadvertently impeded her ability to have fun.

I decided that I would start humming along to the music in a low key way, in hopes that she would feel less silly, and perhaps even think “the woman who looked over at me was just someone else who enjoys this song”. After a few minutes, she started singing again. Maybe it was nothing to do with my actions, but I was delighted nonetheless.

There were no direct interactions between me and the singing woman. I received my drink and left the area. On reflection, it was a very British interaction