There is a 'I'm glad I bumped into you' component in "Well met" implying that the speaker has something afoot and that the one greeted would make the enterprise all the more enjoyable.
I think it is fairly English.
In Yorkshire the most common greeting is 'Ey up' - a contraction of 'heads up' - the carter or carrier's instruction to his beasts to lift their heads from grazing is the source, I think. There is the implication of 'take notice and gather your wits' in that one.
Anne the Pleater
I presume to dictate to no man what he shall eat or drink or wherewithal he shall be clothed."
-- The Hon. Stuart Ruaidri Erskine, The Kilt & How to Wear It, 1901.
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