We first met because he - in the 1970s - tried to take my girlfriend away from me. Faint heart did not win this fair lady either, and I don't think he ever had a girlfriend before or since.
He is one of the many people in this small town who I am obliged to say hello to every time our paths converge, for no other reason than having been introduced once. He is always on his own and now has the air of a defrocked priest to me, but maybe I am just projecting what little I know about him using a scanty, 50 year-old nugget of third-party information. In my eyes he will always be the monk who never was.
When my German friends visited me for the first time they were astounded at how many people I greeted when walking down the road to the pub. To them it seemed as if I was acquainted with half of the population, but they did not take the size of the town and the length of my stay in it into consideration.
Some years before that when my patience began to wear thin and my claustrophobia wore thicker, I would refuse to acknowledge strangers who I saw on an almost daily basis. One man stopped me once and suggested we should say 'hello' to each other when we next met. I explained that I had far too many familiar strangers on an unwritten list who I was supposed to acknowledge in the street already, and I could not mentally afford to take on any more. We avoided eye contact thereafter.
I had a brief moment of celebrity once after I had been interviewed on national TV by a real celebrity, and that taught me something. For around a week, people would double-take me when they walked past and shop workers would ask me if I was that man they had seen on TV.
I learned that fame brings responsibilities, one of which is to be polite and kind to strangers who think they know more about you than you do about them. Van Morrison does not agree with me.
I think that being famous must be hell ! I was watching a Maggie Smith interview just now and she said she was never really bothered by people before Downton Abbey and Harry Potter and could go to the theatre and art galleries etc without being accosted but now, she said, she is recognised all of the time. It must be so strewsful, having to look your best every time you step out of your front door. Happy Easter Monday Tom. XXXX
ReplyDeleteMarrying into the royals must be the worst. Happy Easter to you too Jack@.
DeleteOh dear you have shattered one of my illusions about you Tom. I always imagined you as th sort of chap who would always say hello (but maybe you do to the female sex! ) I have posted my usual Easter poem for you today.x
ReplyDeleteThat was just a phase I was going through under pressure Weave. Honest.
DeleteThe monk who never was makes me think of the poet Pessoa who I am studying who lived alone in Lisbon. In fact the post as a whole makes me think of him.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of him.
DeleteI remember the same of Bath as well. Stand outside M&S and you were bound to see people from Weston village wandering by. I think it is to do with the main street from Milsom street going straight right down to the river. Also of course Walcot street runs in a straight line to London Road. I remember seeing Salman Rushdie walking down Milsom Street one day when he was supposed to be incognito.
ReplyDeleteWalcot Street was the one I went down every day. It's where I still usually park, but covid changed everything and there are faces I have not seen since lockdown.
DeleteGood day to you, Sir.
ReplyDeleteI always say hello to people who greet me, but I don't arrange it for the future.
DeleteI think it was quite courageous and nice of the man (who now avoids eye contact) to ask you to greet each other. We have a saying here "So viel Zeit muss sein" - "That little part of time should be available". Where I spend now so much time now, in Bavaria, it is easy: everyone in the village greets everybody - I like it.
ReplyDeleteAs to fame: my husband appeared about 100 times as one of three experts (or "judge" about the correct answers of the candidates) in a popular quiz show - and yes: people always asked him in the street, "Aren't you....???" , even years later.
Nowadays I do not envy fame to anyone - I think it is more of a burden.
As I said to Tasker, I really don't mind spontaneous greetings. I don't want them to be arranged for the future in advance.
DeleteIt is said that fame and fortune alike change a person and their life. I have always thought of myself as a friendly person that meets and greets people easily. That said, I do find Covid has changed everybody, Many people look away rather than smile or greet anybody. Everybody is to busy looking at their phone. Your monk friend has chosen a solitary life.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
DeleteSo tell us about the brown eyed girl!
ReplyDeleteShe is/was American. Now lives in Columbus, Ohio.
DeleteThe world is in such a sad state at the moment. So much anger. I just feel as if it is important to make a point of not adding to it. I try very hard not to do that. I smile at people. If they speak, I reply. It seems like such a small thing. But do tell...Van Morrison???
ReplyDeleteVan Morrison is actively hostile to his fan base. He lived here in Bath for a while and I have seen him being vile to his admirers.
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