I was born in North Wales, and lived in the resort town of Prestatyn until I was twenty.
Only then did I move to Chester, then York then Sheffield, a city I lived for going on two decades.
Today I came face to face to someone from my late teenage years.
And all in an impulse visit to a bespoke butchers shop in St Asaph.
I had just dropped The Prof's car in for it's MOT and knowing we were out of eggs , I stopped in the shop to buy a half dozen .
I was just gazing at a large tray of homemade scotch eggs with desperate longing when a middle aged woman with big breasts and very grey hair leaned her face very close to mine.
" Hello John Gray" the woman said , smiling broadly.
I stood up and looked at her. She looked vaguely familiar but I was totally at a loss of who it was.
Was she a patient I had nursed or a relative of one who had died? Lots of things flashed through my mind, and I stalled for time for a moment by smiling back and saying a " Hello" reply.
The butcher who was serving the woman looked patient but impatiently just stretched a little
" It's Eirian ! " the woman said, and thirty seven years suddenly dropped away as did my need for a scotch egg
I had dated Eirian when I was sixteen .
She had big breasts covered by very baggy jumpers even then, I remembered.
" Oh My there's a blast from the past!" I said not quite knowing what to say and jumped just a little when she took my hand and squeezed it
" I heard a while ago that you had moved back to Wales" she trilled,
" With my now husband " I replied!
The butcher now looked a little more interested in the conversation as I laughed and Eirian looked theatrically surprised.
" My mother always thought you were gay" She cackled in good humour " I thought you were just shy"
She sounds nice!
ReplyDeleteMad as a box of frogs
DeleteShy?!
ReplyDeleteI think she meant asexual
DeleteHow sweet. Particularly the "shy" bit.
ReplyDeleteStephenson will put his own spin on it; in the meantime I dare say that, on the spectrum of men who are either "breast" or "legs", you most certainly will have preferred legs. Regardless. Even I find breasts frightening at times (not least Rachel's).
Did you buy yourself a Scotch egg by way of comfort blanket?
U
No....just 6 eggs and two spicy sausages
DeleteWell, she recognized you -- sounds like you've aged pretty well, old boy!
ReplyDeleteIslways have had an old face
DeleteSounds like a fun encounter. Mothers always know, they don't always say, but they know.
ReplyDeleteWell done to her for recognising someone from so far back in the past - and your features have surely changed quite considerably I would have thought. I can never do that, being one of those who has frequently failed to know who people are outside their usual surroundings, yes even my own relatives, as I nervously wait for them to drop a clue as to their identity. (I believe there's a word for this embarrassing 'condition')
ReplyDeleteBut that was some achievement on her part. I'm glad that you got to be told who she was, otherwise like me you would have been racking your brain all day.
I think she recognised my voice initially
Delete@Raybeard---There is a term for that condition: face blindness or prosopagnosia. You can read about it here at this link:
Deletehttp://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/what-is-face-blindness/
Thanks, TTPT. I'll follow it up. There was a radio prog about it recently and I'd had no idea that having this trait is by no means uncommon.
DeleteMy husband never forgot a face ... I forget sometimes in about 5 minutes .
ReplyDeleteI would remember yours though .. you remind me of someone I used to know and liked very much.
Tell me more
DeleteI instantly forget faces and names - but I always remember dogs! So people are referred to as 'Snoopy's owner' or 'Rua's Dad' . . .But there you are - I prefer and trust dogs more than people.
ReplyDeleteI worked in a major veterinary teaching hospital, seeing outpatient appointments for followup blood work, blood pressure checks, X-rays, etc. While getting a recent history from the owner ("How's Fido doing on the new medication?"), I'd be so focused on the dog - cats were in carriers - that when it was time to return the patient to the owner, I sometimes had little to no idea what the owner looked like!
DeleteI have moved a lot for school and work and am always running into to people who recognize me and I am left searching the corners of my mind trying to place them. I usually just smile and play along until they give me some clue as to their identity. On few occasions I have been in a shop and had a quick 5 minute, "it has been so long - how you been?" chat to walk away without a clue as to their name or how the heck they know me...
ReplyDeleteReply below
DeleteIt's a horrible feeling isn't it? Them knowing you and you not recognising them.....
ReplyDeleteI have done it with a cousin from Rotherham who was sat in my kitchen with me non the wiser who he was.
Welcome by the way !
She sounds like a sweetie.
ReplyDeleteAnd is this woman the source of your deep fear of breasts?
ReplyDeleteOmg you're right!
DeleteAww how nice that she thought you were shy :-)
ReplyDeleteIf you need eggs and are passing our way at all just drop in, we always have a dozen going spare for friends and family.
My son changed his Facebook profile photo to one taken of him and his best friend a while ago, and it was amazing how may of their other 'friends' suddenly questioned their sexuality and in a couple of cases 'unfriended' them. Luckily they are both very secure in themselves and my sons reaction over and over was just "so" or "would it be a problem". He's kept the photo up for ages now (it's a very good one, they are both good looking men) just to annoy some folk I think.
'many' of their friends.
DeleteFunny! Good for him! Keep everyone guessing sue, that's what I say
DeleteShe "trilled" - makes Eirian sound like a budgie.
ReplyDeleteShe "cackled" - makes Eirian sound like a witch.
How about she "whispered huskily" or "panted lustfully" instead?
Panted lustfully
DeleteThat's more you YP
Very perceptive mum there methinks.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! Love every word.
ReplyDeleteEvery word?
DeleteI lied.....baggy jumpers sound awful. Tell me what they are so I never get a pair.
DeleteAlso, what is a scotch egg?
WHAT IS A SCOTCH EGG. ????????
DeletePlease! SOMEONE TELL HER, !!!!!!!!!!!
she cant be a Brit.
DeleteSomeone?
Deletescotch eggs are to picnics as banter is to humour
DeleteAnd as bog roll is to dirty arses
Deleteas bog roll is to dirty arses so banter is to Brits
DeleteWell now, that is tempting.
DeleteNow seriously Linda, a Scotch egg is a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat (and maybe with bread crumbs on the outside although my mother never used them) and fried. Homemade ones are in my opinion the best.
DeleteWhere have I been? I will have to look up a recipe for that one.
DeleteThey are bloody lovely
DeleteShe took the news in stride! Good for her!
ReplyDeleteOld news
DeleteIt's funny how some people change over the years while others seem the same. I don't think anyone from my teen years would recognize me now.
ReplyDeleteShy equals asexual. That's why I come here. For the education aspect. You're the best John. Except for my gay best friend Jay. So I guess you're second best. Oh for God's sake Donna, shut the hell up.
ReplyDeleteThank you ( I think) x
DeleteBelieve me, the worst situation is when you go up to someone you think is a blast from the past and they look aghast (I just made a poem :), and say, in a haughty manner, "I beg your pardon, but I have no idea who you are!"
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to recognize her, welll, at least by her breasts...
Thanks for the morning giggle.
I've done this before several times
DeleteWhat a lovely encounter. I bet the butcher had a chuckle after you both left x
ReplyDeleteGreat story. I thought that you supplied eggs to your neighbours? Have your chucks all died?
ReplyDeleteNo but they are on minimum lay this part of the year x
DeleteMine have been on minimum lay all flipping year, one of them is 10 so I can forgive her but the other ex chicken farm one has no excuse...good job we are veggies or she would have had a different end by now....although our dogs have no such scruples. !
DeleteI always feel like I've let the other person down if I don't recognize them! Fortunately I have a good memory for faces although names tend to get lost if I'm not using them frequently. I love your descriptions.
ReplyDeleteThis so reminds me of my mother. At about 18 I was very smitten by G, a friend of my cousin J. G and I worked in the same office and we used to go out together at lunch time and we were very close. I do admit that I 'threw' myself at him and gave him every opportunity to ask me out on a date.
ReplyDeleteYears later, I mentioned to my mother that it was a bit strange that neither G nor J had married. She gave me a hard look and said 'What, married to each other?'
The penny then dropped and I blushed to think how I had behaved.
At my mothers funeral, I saw G again, still so gorgeous, he said that he had always felt guilty that he hadn't told me at the time. But the biggest shock was that they had both been visiting my mother because she was the only person in the family who understood.
There she was Matriarch of the family, pillar of the catholic church, accepting them as family.
And that is a lesson for us all eh?
DeleteDoesn't it bring back memories of the days of finding yourself ... it was all an adventure and a bit scary. Loved KitKats recount - the Australian Government could take a lesson from her Mum and show acceptance and leadership!
ReplyDeleteI came out much later Elle........a few girlfriends later!
ReplyDeleteI'm sitting outside in my glider and bird poo flew down on me. I secretly hope that some people won't recognize me from my past! But darn it, they do and then I have to acknowledge them. I try to be nice and congenial. I had a very very best friend name Shirley we met in college and she was bisexual well I had never delved into that. I had secretly always respected the beauty of a woman. Our friendship lasted until she passed over 30 years and we had our tirades even though she was married. He accepted it. Some of her family, just thought I was the crazy bipolar girl. Truthfully I loved her inside and out. She knew all my secrets. Never gone down that path again but they'll never be another Shir. I wasn't even allowed to go to her funeral. Her son was terribly upset and her ex-husband. Thanks explained to jimmy her husband Who was deaf he missed construed a text message that I sent. I still long to say goodbye to that old gal .
ReplyDeleteI loved this ....a comment right outside left field xx
DeleteOh the gals from our past, John!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds that Eirian really had hopes for you two.
My last girlfriend's mother told her after we had broken up that she needn't worry about losing me to a woman!!
Jumbo, I knew you would be understanding this one x
DeleteFun meet up from the past . . ,
ReplyDeleteand your past . . .
A few decades ago while I was chatting with a friend on the university campus, a young man walked up to me and exclaimed how great it was to see me again. I didn’t recognize him and didn’t have the social skills to admit it and ask who he was. I just blathered on responding that yes, it was great to see him too. I thought we had ended the conversation, I turned away and said to my friend, “I have no idea who that guy was,” only to find that the young man was still standing behind me. He then scuttled away and I felt more than rotten. *sigh* Now I simply admit my faulty memory and most people have been quite kind to fill me in which has resulted in some rather nice reminiscences.
ReplyDeleteBeen there worn that t shirt too! Welcome x
Delete