Sunday, 3 March 2013

Reflections on a Small World

A few weeks ago my old school friend the Feisty Blue Gecko posted about coincidence and recounted how she had met, at a work meeting in Myanmar, someone with whom she used to travel on the school bus. The Friday before last I had a similar, if slightly less dramatic, experience.

I had gone to an event at London Olympia's exhibition halls.  It was fairly busy and I was having a late lunch sat at a small table in the corner of the Hall. A man came up and, in the soft Scottish accent mentioned by FBG, asked if the seat opposite me was taken.  It wasn't and he sat down. After a while he leant towards me and addressed me by name in a slightly (but only slightly) hesitant tone.  It was the chap who had lived next door to me in Perthshire when I was growing up!  We hadn't seen each other for about 25 years and both now live in the Home Counties. So we had a good natter catching up on what we and our respective families are doing these days.

I would not normally be at an event on a weekday, especially one like this that carried on over the weekend. However, I have annual leave to use up before the end of March, so I thought that I may as well use a day for this.

I find such serendipitous meetings all the more pleasing for being unexpected and couldn't wait to relay this one to other members of my family.

And while the FBG and I were in the school orchestra together, her bus companion was in my year.

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