Chance Encounters On The Path
Anadi and I are by the sea again!
Tim has just texted to say he is all aboard his flight and it is 'phone's off' time...
He is about to fly to us....
How amazing is our human journey...? We are sitting on a beach in the sun, and soon Tim who is on the runway at Gatwick, will be with us too....
I totally love picking people up at airports. I totally love airports...!
When I was practicing in the corporate world in the nineties, I worked for a while with a management consultant called Ian. We travelled all over the UK together, and to America too...
He blamed me for numerous late flights we encountered, because I was always very happy when we saw the flight announcement board herald a long wait.... It meant more airport time; more time in no man's land; more Capuccino Philosophique time...
I loved talking to Ian, our conversations were far reaching and expansive, and so airports allowed even more 'hanging out time'.
I do recall one of our delays saw me arriving in Philadelphia with only time for two hours sleep before getting up for a pre breakfast run, and then a day of work ahead...
But I found it all rather fun and slightly 'make believe'.
I said to Anadi today as we wound our way down the mountain... 'It is funny to think that Tim is leaping out of 'Facebook comments virtual world', into our world here, or out of the world in the UK to our virtual world... Our making it all up as we go along life...!
We rounded another hairpin, and there on the side of the road were two men, both with long curly hair... One was older and had a hat pulled over his wavy locks, he carried his guitar, and he was very skinny and smily with no teeth, or not many, maybe one or two... His companion was younger and fuller of frame....
They were going to the market in Orgiva, and the younger one wanted to get to the post office before it closed and so was very grateful of the lift....
We discovered something about one another during our short journey....
The Belgian man had shed all his belongings, except for an expensive PA system and recording system (we didn't have time to discover his plans with this piece of kit) just one month ago... It had taken him five months to 'tie up all the loose ends' - and now he was free...
The older man was Spanish and had travelled for most of his life... But for the past twelve years he has hardly left the Alpujarras. He told us that he had become interested in ecological matters, and then the opportunity of a house and some land had arisen, which he now tends and stays with all the time...
As he got out of the car, he leaned in and said to us
'You are visionaries of your time, that is a blessing....'
Chance encounters on the path, kindred spirits meeting for but a moment, connecting briefly and then we sped to the beach....
Last night in Teide, all was quiet... The dog has left and the grey and white skinny cat returned.....
By the time he left our table his tummy was noticeably fatter..!