In 1980 I briefly dated a local girl called Sandra B.
We met at the " Stables" disco in nearby St Asaph, and sucked each other's faces off after drinking Pernod and lemonade beneath the ultra violet lights which always had a nasty habit of showing up any dandruff problem.
This morning I bumped into her in a supermarket ten miles from Trelawnyd.
I had just dropped Chris off for a boffin meeting, she, like me was doing the weekly shop.
We haven't spoken for 34 years.
Chic and well groomed, she looked ten years younger than her 52 years, and I recognised her immediately as she looked at me at the checkout with a slightly quizzical look.
Now I know that I am not looking at my best today, but despite the red snotty nose, the grubby woollen hoodie, the bloodshot eyes and the grey beard ( dotted with breakfast Muesli) she did indeed recognise me.
Now, I don't know about you, but catching up in a supermarket check out , looking and feeling like shit is not the easiest of jobs ....especially as the last time we met up, I had a 32 inch waist, wore a bow tie and was a straight bank clerk!
It was one of those silly conversations
" I've been married -divorced, have three grown up kids and am now dating again" Sandra chirped in way of a life CV
" I've been a nurse in Yorkshire most of my life, am getting married next year and am gay" I recipocated with a snotty smile
" How Cosmopolitan" Sandra said without pausing
I could see the check out girl looking me up and down
I couldn't have looked any less cosmopolitan if I had tried.
We met at the " Stables" disco in nearby St Asaph, and sucked each other's faces off after drinking Pernod and lemonade beneath the ultra violet lights which always had a nasty habit of showing up any dandruff problem.
This morning I bumped into her in a supermarket ten miles from Trelawnyd.
I had just dropped Chris off for a boffin meeting, she, like me was doing the weekly shop.
We haven't spoken for 34 years.
Chic and well groomed, she looked ten years younger than her 52 years, and I recognised her immediately as she looked at me at the checkout with a slightly quizzical look.
Now I know that I am not looking at my best today, but despite the red snotty nose, the grubby woollen hoodie, the bloodshot eyes and the grey beard ( dotted with breakfast Muesli) she did indeed recognise me.
I know, I know...I look like shit
Now, I don't know about you, but catching up in a supermarket check out , looking and feeling like shit is not the easiest of jobs ....especially as the last time we met up, I had a 32 inch waist, wore a bow tie and was a straight bank clerk!
It was one of those silly conversations
" I've been married -divorced, have three grown up kids and am now dating again" Sandra chirped in way of a life CV
" I've been a nurse in Yorkshire most of my life, am getting married next year and am gay" I recipocated with a snotty smile
" How Cosmopolitan" Sandra said without pausing
I could see the check out girl looking me up and down
I couldn't have looked any less cosmopolitan if I had tried.
only you John...
ReplyDeleteDidnt Dan Fogelberg write a song about two middle aged people meeting at a supermarket?
DeleteSame old Lang syne
Why must we always run into people we haven't seen in forever when we're looking and feeling our worst?! It's like some kind of shitty natural law of the universe.
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest.. I actually recognised her when we both entered the supermarket together.. But said nothing
DeleteFate was having a laugh sending me to the till she was already standing at
Well you've only yourself to blame. I'd have hidden behind the Quality Street display until she'd gone....
DeleteWanda..she would have heard me coughing behind it
DeleteLife sometimes has a sense of humor.
ReplyDeletecheers, parsnip
Quite staggering that you recognised each other at all. I wonder if that "How cosmopolitan!" was a put-down jibe. Sounds like you'll be happy if there's at least another 34 years before your next 'reunion'.
ReplyDeleteWell I am very good at faces
DeleteNot names but will always remember a face
Oh my, that's hilarious! Wish I could have been there and watched.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't miss much mike
DeleteShe said phew as she mopped her brow and drove off at speed.
ReplyDeleteI think she was frothing at the mouth in anticipation of our next meeting
DeleteBrilliant ..... you both had a lucky escape by the sounds of it ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat's the last time I go to tesco's in Abergele
DeleteWhy .... are there lots more ex's you might bump into ... Lol.
DeleteHope you're feeling a bit better today. xx
Oh God that made me lauggh so much. You brighten my day.
ReplyDeleteHow cosmopolitan?! Prat.
ReplyDeleteJane x
Jane it was said cheerfully and somewhat ironically me thinks
DeleteGood!
DeleteJane x
When I went to my 20 year high school reunion, I wouldn't have known anyone if they hadn't had their old picture on their name tag. I think she was probably glad to see you again and meant cosmopolitan as a compliment.
ReplyDeleteOh Donna,, she was laughing her head off and was friendly
DeleteSo yes she was just having fun
Reading your post while at work and my co-worker and I had a giggle about this -- We both agreed we wouldn't have known what to say if we'd been her, and would have just stood there, probably silent -- How cosmopolitan would that have been?
ReplyDeleteIf she had told me that she was a lesbian I would have said
Delete" fuck me"
And I'd been her, and you said that, I still wouldn't have known what to say! :-)!!!
Delete--Thanks for the 2nd giggle today, John!!
I wnder if she has a blog and what she would write today.
ReplyDelete" met an old beau today...he looked dog rough"
DeleteAt least she didn't exclaim, " So kissing me was so bad you realised you were gay ! "
ReplyDeleteIf she recognized you - she had to have been keeping tabs on you these 34 years...
ReplyDeletethis is why i dont leave the house without blusher and eyeliner on. maybe she reads your blog
ReplyDelete"In 1980 I briefly dated a local girl called Sandra" - I am SHOCKED by this news. lucky for you that you met chris.
ReplyDeleteand I am sorry to see you are so under the weather; go snuggle with the doggies and all will be well.
I'm off for another hot bath with Vic shortly x
DeleteWhat an embarrassing encounter. I notice neither of you suggested a catch-up in the nearest coffee shop. Clearly you both wanted to escape as fast as possible.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't embarrassing Nick...just a bit weird
DeleteAnd I am glad a coffee wasn't on the agenda
Mind you I am in such a bad " head cold" mood today..I wouldn't have been any company
No one should be judged in supermarket check out. I bet she dolls up all the time, just in case. You kept it real.
ReplyDeleteShe sniffed ,Ike a man, as I recall
DeleteThat should have read " snogged"
DeleteNice that a chance encounter with a formerly serious acquaintance came off so briefly and well. Another tissue?
ReplyDeleteAnother box please joanne
DeleteWhen I read 'Sandra B', a brief time of 'I don't remember that', went through my thick head! I'm a Sandra B too.
ReplyDeleteGood job I know what you mean about 'Vic', thought perhaps you'd met another 'beau', in reply to Anne-Marie in philly!
I do hope you get over your snotty cold soon, I hate the bl**dy things!
O.K you look like sh*t but, we all still love you xxx
That very nice.... But I still feel like shit
DeleteOh dear, Pernod, that brings back memories.... or not!
ReplyDeleteHeh ... that's life: go out ill or scruffy and you're bound to meet someone you haven't seen in ages ...
ReplyDeleteWow, how your life has changed. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteI haven't touched Pernod since a friend's birthday party in 1989. It didn't end well........
ReplyDeleteOh yes......aniseed tasting vomit splashes
DeleteSorry, you lost your credibility after the first sentence.
ReplyDeleteLost my street cred from the " old pods club" too
DeleteIt never fails when I nip out for a bit of something dressed like a fish monger with a snotty nose I always run into someone like that. Makes a body just want to say fuck it all.
ReplyDeleteI think I am hallucinating too.....
DeleteI was convinced that it was Friday today too
"How cosmopolitan"! I'm still laughing into my coffee. She sounds like a good egg.
ReplyDeleteShe kissed me...why wouldn't she be?
DeleteYou think you have problems, back in the 90s I was having a procedure in hospital (Gynae, no need to tell you which half was on show) asked if I minded a student observing which I didn't until in walked my sons best friend at school. Mortified isn't the word for it on both our parts. Fast forward to now again a Gynae situation, again said yes to a student observing, great thinks I, don't know her at all. And what happens she turns up the very next day at my workplace as the new GP student.
ReplyDeleteWinnie and her fanny I can sooo relate too.
Bless you for a wonderful blog that has my stomach aching at your antics both canine and human
Annie
DeleteThank you for your own funny fanny story
( and try saying THAT after a couple of wines)
X
I thought a cosmopolitan was a kind of ice cream!
ReplyDeleteI just read Sandra B's most recent blogpost - "Met an old flame in the supermarket. His trolley was filled with scotch eggs and dog food. God that fellow could snog! Like a vacuum cleaner! He's still really cuddly - like a great big teddy bear and his ass is still tight - like a pair of Mike Tyson's boxing gloves!"
The best comment YP AS USUAL
DeleteWHOA BABY! you really impressed her, john, snotty nose and all!
DeleteWell at least that conversation is out of the way now. Tick. Funny how we do a life CV with people from our past.
ReplyDeleteYes..I must admit, even though I did sideswiped her originally, it was kind of sweet meeting up again
DeleteReminds me of my ex-brother-in-law who always advocated that 'Cosomopolitan' magazine was to blame for his divorce!! Bet you're the talking point over your old-flame's dinner table tonight! Get better quickly. x
ReplyDelete'Cosmopolitan', even!
ReplyDeleteMe wanting to be the centre of someone's conversation?.......never..?
DeleteA boffin meeting? My mind is in the gutter today.
ReplyDeleteHope you get well, soon, John. ♥
Ha! Good laugh.
ReplyDeleteHistory is history....but I always enjoy seeing how those I thought were so handsome ( they thought so too!) have fallen :) and I thought it was just me! Get over that cold!
ReplyDeleteDo you think she secretly thought she'd had a lucky escape! It could only happen to you.
ReplyDeleteGah, I hate when that happens, and it ALWAYS happens to me! San Diego, California... in the Old Town section... and what do I hear? Hey Jacqueline! Over here! No, over here! Don't you remember me? I went to the same dance teacher when you were in kindergarten and I was ready to graduate. You look just the same, I'd know you anywhere!
ReplyDeleteSame in Oklahoma...Miami, Florida... Wheeling, West Virginia... Atlanta, Georgia... even at the Grand -bloody- Canyon! Not once have I recognised these people. It's a conspiracy I tell ya!
I sometimes wonder about people in the past, I have made a couple of major geographic moves and I am unlikely to run into my past in the market. I still wonder what happened to Shirley,
ReplyDeleteBoy! This Vic is becoming quite a' regular' with you John!
ReplyDelete"How cosmopolitan"....I LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteI had no intention of even grimace at 5am when I first read this, but I did smile widely, especially at cosmopolitan.
ReplyDeleteShe was probably happy to see you and didn't even notice the red nose and whatever else. She probably saw the handsome bank clerk she enjoyed snogging. And when you said you're gay, she was probably grateful she didn't marry you.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Cosmopolitanism is more than skin deep, obviously. At least you didn't cough in her face or sneeze in her trolley. *eyebrow waggle*
ReplyDeleteCould have been embarrassing; sounded like fun.
ReplyDeleteDoes Chris know about this Vic you keep bathing with? Hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteShe was probably referring to your time in Sheffield! I have a dread of bumping into ex's. I don't want to be considered the "Lucky Escape"!!!! xxx
ReplyDeleteI like the giant white fur belly look you seem to have acquired there. No wonder she was so impressed. xx
ReplyDeleteOh John! thank you for brightening this bloody miserable rainy day. xx Hope you feel better soon.
ReplyDeleteps Is Meg in training as a Santa beard?
This is one post where reading all the comments was worth it :-)
ReplyDeleteI would never want to run into an old boyfriend after these many years. I think fading memory is kinder than reality.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I run into someone from my past, it never fails that I look like a sea donkey at that moment.
ReplyDeleteIt's just like that Dan Fogelberg song about running into his old girlfriend at the grocery store -- "Another Auld Lang Syne," or something like that. You were channeling Dan, whether you knew it or not.
ReplyDeleteHehe, there are some people I dread to meet.
ReplyDelete