DIDN'T EXPECT TO SEE YOU HERE!

We went to Brighton on Friday. Got home about 4.30pm yesterday afternoon and I went straight to bed. Was asleep by 5pm. Between sorting out my mum’s house, the UFO video, and clearing the day job decks for Christmas, it was just sheer exhaustion I think. Still knackered today. Looking forward to a much quieter rest of the month, and perhaps a slightly easier start to 2025.

Weirdly, on our way down to Brighton, we stopped off at Pease Pottage services for a wee (Wees Poottage Services) and…. bumped into Chris Bullock! Chris, you may know, was a Barshens regular, been a guest on various Digi things, and is an erstwhile sound recordist. It was one of those weird moments of seeing someone you know really well… somewhere you don’t expect to see them. She wasn’t in a good way, alas, having literally just finished a marathon. I mean, so had I in a way. 

I’ve had a few of those jarring encounters over the years. Bumping into the owner of my local comic shop, who I’ve known since I was 15 – I designed their carrier bags and painted their shop sign many, many years ago – in Discovery Cove in Orlando was probably the most extreme one.

It was so incongruous and jarring that my brain just sort of shut down. It didn’t help that I’d not spoken to him in years – I just stopped buying comics – so it was incredibly awkward. And, I confess, I did spend a lot of the rest of the day on high alert or hiding. Sanja still makes fun of me for it.

Another time I was on holiday down in Cornwall. I was with the kids, walking along the high street of some Cornish town, when my next-door-but-one neighbour just says “Alright, Paul?” from the doorway of a Boots. Completely matter-of-fact.

What made this weirder is that it had become a running joke that every time I stepped foot out of the house he would be there, and would always greet me with a deadpan “Alright, Paul?”. If I went out the front… there he was. If I went out into the back garden… there he was. If I went to the fish and chip shop… he’d be in there. “Alright, Paul? Just buying some chips.”

Again, my brain just sort of farted, and I had no words.

There was another: a guy, who I’d never spoken to, but saw almost every time I went into Forbidden Planet in London, I also saw in the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. Didn’t speak to him that time either. Walking past the eldest daughter from My Parents Are Aliens on the platform of my local tube station. Didn’t stop to say anything, as she seemed to be in a hurry. And also, I didn’t want to because that would’ve been awkward.

I think I’ve learned to hide it well, but I find most social interactions awkward. However, when those interactions happen unexpectedly, I rarely have time to activate the Social Interaction Tools, and just sort of freeze or blabber.

Someone else we did see at the weekend – other than my daughter, who was the main reason we were Brighton – was lovely Mr Chris Bell, who has run the Super Page 58 Digi fan site for 25+ years. We’d arranged to meet for a quick coffee, and we did, which was really nice. Chris is a big reason why I’m still out here making stuff after all these decades, and he’s been a big cheerleader of the direction we’ve gone in over the past year.  

Anyway... genuinely interested to hear if any of you lot have seen people you know in places you didn't expect to see them.