Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

Did I just see a ghost?

Last October we went on what many people would consider to be the holiday of a lifetime, when we flew to Vanuatu in the South Pacific in order to sail from Port Vila, Vanuatu's capital, to New Caledonia on a genuine square-rigged sailing ship, the Søren Larsen.

During that trip we met and got to know the other people on board, and shared the experience of acting as crew - we set (okay, helped to set) sails, pulled ropes, took the helm, and all the other stuff you'd expect to do on a sailing ship. There were 26 of us (13 voyage crew and 13 permanent crew), and at the end of the journey we all went our seperate ways on the assumption that none of us would ever meet again, particularly as the voyage crew came from a number of different continents and it wasn't likely that we would run into each other in the supermarket.

I'm not saying all this just to show off (although it was damn cool and I'd do it again any time), but to demonstrate how odd the world can be sometimes. You've probably guessed where this is getting to now, so I'll cut to the chase: I just ran into (well, walked past) one of the Søren voyage crew members from our trip in PC World on Tottenham Court Road, while I was picking up a game. I was so shocked at seeing someone so utterly out of context that I couldn't think of anything to say. Seven million people in London, 56 million in the UK, billions worldwide, and I run into one of the 26 people who I shared a ship with last year.

I know, I know, statistically it isn't all that odd (particularly as the person I ran into lives in London most of the time), but it was still a huge surprise to see someone who in my mind should be somewhere in the south Pacific. Anyway - if you happen to read this, hello, and you know who you are... Don't know if you noticed me or not (the Søren fleecy jacket I'm wearing might have been an indicator), but if you did, sorry if you thought I was ignoring you.