Page 82 - Phonebox Magazine August 2016

Serendipity
IDavid Pibworth
wonder if you, like me, have wondered when on your travels if anyone you know is nearby.
My family and I were sitting eating mussels in an outside bar in Swanage talking about this, listening to a Salvation Army band,
when my wife suddenly said "Isn't that Dean Crafter?" And indeed it was. Dean also lives in Olney and there he was walking along with his family. They had also decided to visit Swanage. We had a chat and laugh about how unlikely this chance meeting was.
The next year we again visited Swanage and went down to the mussel bar (my daughter Esther can eat mussels for England) but this time had to sit at the back of the bar as all the tables were taken at the front. However, the Salvation Army band were again playing and I asked the band leader if they played every Sunday and he said that they only played there once a year and it was just coincidence that we had happened down there on that one day a year. As I went back to tell my wife this, she suddenly said "Isn't that Sandy over there?" And indeed it was. Sandy was a young man who had lived near us with his family when he was just a child. We hadn't seen him for ages but there he was buying an ice cream with his girlfriend. We had a catch up and a laugh. It occurred to me that had we sat at the front that time and at the back the rst time then we'd not have met either Dean or Sandy, so how far away are we from at least one person we know? Not very far I suspect.
So this year we went to Cornwall. We visited the recently reopened Jubilee sea water swimming pool in Penzance. As we were about to go a lady shouted something and my wife said "Pardon?" And the lady apologised and said she was talking to someone else but then complimented me on my hat. She had her little boy with her and my daughter told me to make a hanky disappear to make him laugh. So I did. The lady laughed and asked if I was a magician and I truthfully said not really, just a show off in public. She said that I should meet her husband as he did stand up comedy at which point he appeared and it was Andrew Watts, a splendid stand up comic who I've worked with, and is well worth going to see. He's the only stand up that I know who smokes a pipe on stage. So again we had a quick catch up and all was good.
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82 Phonebox Magazine | August 2016