Meeting My Alter Ego
We boarded the plane to Barcelona at lunch time...
There were a couple of women sitting chatting in the seats cross the aisle from me; they were joined by their friend once it was established that the seat next to them was spare...
They were having a very happy time and I thought there was something very familiar about the man...
I wondered if he was my alter ego...
They were all chatting away together which meant he he didn't turn my way... I kept glancing across...
I first met my alter ego three years ago in Simon's wine bar 'Ten Green Bottle' - it was the end of November and we were all there to celebrate Si's birthday...
Inevitably as one would imagine when you are about to meet your alter ego, Harry ( as I soon discovered his name to be) and I gravitated towards one another... And we quickly discovered that we were yin and yang, day and night...
Harry's life happened by night, as 'more than a cocktail waiter' and my life as 'more than a runner' by day...
On recounting our 'life in the day...' We found that Harry would be returning to his bed after a 'night of cocktail making' just as I was rising for a 'day of running'...
We resolved to meet in the new year to redress the balance, to reclaim our missing parts...
Harry would learn to run, and I to make cocktails....
But this sadly did not happen...
Our orbits went in different directions...
I met Anadi - we know the rest - And Harry is now in London transforming the bar experience for theatre goers....
And here I was, on a plane to Barcelona, almost certain my alter ego was in the seat just across the aisle from me...
I told the air steward 'I am sure I know that man'... 'I can look at the list for you', he volunteered conspiratorially, but then we realised he was not in the seat he was supposed to be sitting in!
They ordered three vodkas and tonic and I felt the signs were good that I truly was next to my other self....
Then came the moment...
I touched his arm...'Are you a cocktail waiter...' He looked at me, and a dawning came across his face... 'My alter ego' he exclaimed delightedly... We greeted one another as you might imagine you would, when suddenly in front of you is your exact equal opposite who you have not seen for three long years...
There was great excitement...
He told his friends, who remembered him telling them of me at the time... I told Anadi who also remembered me telling the story of meeting Harry...
And it will be no surprise for me to tell you that...
I was on my way to Barcelona to run and Harry to celebrate a friend's birthday in fine style!
And to top it all... When we spoke about our dear mutual friend Si and the excitement that he has just recently announced his engagement to Fiona, Harry said...
'I am his best man'!
Later....
Emerging through the arrival gates, we made our way to the statue of the horse... We could spot Malcolm's bright green 'Running Crazy' T shirt...
I waved, he waved...
And we greeted one another with big smiles...
It is three years since we last met, here at this very race... I had just met Anadi three weeks earlier...
It is wonderful to be here..
We are currently in the Oasis bar, gathered together with about 50 other runners, about to collect our numbers which will give us the privilege of running round the streets of Barcelona tomorrow as the sun sets on 2015
