I was sitting in a bar in Bulgaria, with a beer and a shot of Absinthe in front of me. I was reading my kindle. The bar was essentially empty in the hot mid-afternoon sun. The only other customer seemed to be a well built Russian, who kept coming up to the bar to get more ice to refresh his cocktail.
The barman came over to ask "why I was reading?" As Bill Hicks has said, "that is strange question." I told him, I thought it was quiet. It turned out that he only worked the tourist season in Sunny beach, but lived in the second largest city in Bulgaria. I had just read a history of Bulgaria. I told him, that I might visit Sofia next time. He didn't think there was much to see in Sofia, but recommended his home city, with 6000 years of history.
I then made a mistake by asking whether there was much Turkish influence in his home city. He then said, "well no, my city has 6000 years of history.", so clearly I had said the wrong thing. After some grovelling back tracking from me, he admitted the history of the Balkan states was confusing.
History lesson over, I finished my beer.