Leicester Square: it's a travel blog now

I'm in a writing mode again. I probably should be going to bed but I saw something online about Piccadily Circus in London, which reminded me of the time I met a friend in Leicester Square, a different, but nearby place in that same city.

It was on this corner, I think, that I waited for that friend. While standing there, feeling 100 percent out of place -- after all, earlier in the day, when I had asked a passerby to point me in the direction of the British Museum (I was very close but the map program on my phone just could not grok the spider's web of streets in that area, so I decided to ask), the person gave me the information, but as I walked toward the destination, I stopped and asked myself, "Did she just answer me in a mocking American accent? Would someone really do that? Yes, I think she did." Too funny!
But on this corner, outside the Leicester Square tube station, several (OK one for sure and at least two, I think) other passers by took me for a local and asked me directions. I had been in the United Kingdom for about five hours total, at that point, so I had to give them an, "I'm not from here."
I wonder what it was that made people think I might have the information they were seeking. Someone once told me that I give off an air of someone who is confident, knowledgeable, approachable, and eager to help. I hope all those things are true, but on that day, it was of no avail.
I did meet my friend a short while later, in the actual Leicester Square, which is about a block west of this location. I found my way. Twice in one day. I hope those other passers by did, too. I'm sure they did. Everyone always does, right?
I still regret not thinking faster and saying, to my mocker/helper, "Fanks, mate, noice day, innit!" or something like that.

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