You'll never believe me, but...

[HighPeakFox]

I had one of those weird incidences that was so funny I thought it worth building a thread around.

 

Firstly a bit of context. Being a musician of a certain standing means I have connections with much more eminent, brilliant musicians than myself - I only mention this to explain how it is that I became friends with the subject of this story. Those of you that read current affairs may recall a massive scandal that emerged a few years ago about senior tutors at music colleges/schools having routinely abused their positions for sexual purposes - well, back in the day, a very fine pianist called Martin Roscoe was head of keyboard studies at RNCM Manchester (my alma mater), took a principled stand against the decision to appoint a known sexual predator to a lofty position, and his reward for being a brave, principled whistle-blower was to lose his job and be ex-communicated, a scandalous business and one that took him a long time to recover from.

 

Much later I saw that he was active on Facebook, and quite vocal about what had happened, and politics at large, and I messaged him, explaining my associations, and basically saying how much I admired him for the stand he had taken. Thus, we became 'friends', and I was able to interact with his 'friends', many of whom are giants in their chosen field. One such was a character who goes by the name of Paul 'Harry' Harris - he works professionally as 'Harry The Piano', and I was soon to discover that the guy is a massive genius - he makes a living improvising, and I cannot begin to explain the chops this requires, as well as the deep understanding of harmony, rhythm and so forth. Before I go any further, I will link you to his brilliance here - he might have constructed the opening in advance, but the rest is on the spot invention.

 

 

Well, it became apparent that Harry and I largely agreed at a political and human level - not unusual perhaps, but despite being a massively busy guy, he PMed me, started talking and said why don't we meet for lunch? I was less comfortable in my own skin back then (2018) but something told me that this would be ok. We discussed where we lived (he Battersea, me Buxton at the time), and then he said 'Look, my sister lives in Derbyshire, there's a really good place to eat at Darley Abbey Mills - let's go there'. So we did, and he was brilliant company, as we sat in the sun overlooking the wear - I knew I had made a genuine friend.

 

Life of course then intervened for us both, so did Covid and both our ways of life were threatened, but we remained sporadically in touch. Cut to early July (which for other reasons I will never ever forget as long as I have my marbles), and Harry popped up saying 'OK, I can actually get to meet again - how about July 14th?' This was fine by me, I made the booking, and I arranged to pick him up off a train. I'll cut the next bit short, but to cut to the chase, Harry disappeared. I followed the plan through and this resulted in contacting Missing Persons. I needn't have bothered, Harry popped up later in the day on FB, saying 'Call me!' - the barsteward had been in France, jumped in a pool with his phone in his trunks, and already got his dates wrong and failed to inform me, but I was frankly relieved. We found a new date to meet (July 29th) and this went without a hitch, other than the M1 delaying Harry for a half hour or so.

 

However... I had just recently been to Brighton for 3 days, as my Dad lives near there and he turned 86 last Monday. He's too frail to cope with visitors, as he cares for his wife, so I stayed in a B&B - and by the way, if anyone ever requires a good place there, get in touch, I found the best one going. This allowed Dad to quietly retire when he'd had enough and meant I could make other arrangements. So I got in touch with @StriderHiryu, who I had also met once before and who I know lives in London, and we arranged to go for dinner that Monday evening. I got the Gatwick Express in, and just before I got to Victoria, we paused outside Battersea Power Station. I took a shot and sent it to Harry, asking 'Do you own this, then?', to which he replied 'Only half of it'.

 

Strider greeted me with a cardboard sign and flowers (that might be a lie), a massive grin and we caught up fast. For the record, he's as every bit as interesting to talk to as he is to read and engage with on FT. We started walking to find somewhere to eat, rejecting the more corporate crap and decided on Italian food. A quick Google search revealed plenty of walkable options, so we thought Zozi looked proper. Only to find it closed. So we found another, and as we turned the corner, I said to Strider 'if this one's shut I'll laugh'. Well, not only was it shut, it was closed down. I laughed as promised. We found yet another, but before we reached it, we stumbled across Oliveto. It looked decent, we poked our noses in and were seated near the entrance. So we sat down, started ordering and relaxed into conversation, and I know that by now I had mentioned Harry to him.

 

About half an hour in, as we were mid-anecdote, I noticed 2 people walk in - a rather gorgeous Caribbean woman followed by a larger white guy. My jaw dropped, and I said to Strider '**** me, that's Harry'. He hadn't seen me yet, so as he came in to the restaurant, I greeted him, and (and Strider is my witness), the guy did a massive triple-take. It was one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me, partially because his face was a picture of utter confusion - 'I know you but who the hell are you?' - but also because we were due to meet somewhere totally different the same week.

 

They went and sat down, and we both reacted with absolute amusement and amazement at the whole thing. I got properly introduced to his wife, and we left the evening with an airy 'See you Friday, then'.

 

Strider actually took a picture of us before Harry turned up, and I can only assume he's not uploaded it yet because I'm far better looking. 

Edited 1 August 2022 by HighPeakFox
Minor edits

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Wow! From the opening couple of paragraphs I thought you were going to end up being lured somewhere so was relieved this didn't happen

 

Just watched the Harry Potter video and watching some of his other stuff, that is utterly insane talent. Most people could practice something 8 hours a day for their whole life and still not be anywhere near as good 

[StriderHiryu]

It was nice to meet you in person again @HighPeakFox. Apologies, but I'm not going to share our picture because I don't feel comfortable posting it on here. I'm happy to engage with others on the forum and even meet in real life but tend to be a fairly private person in real life, hope you understand.

 

Hope all continues to go to plan and your life continues to be a blast! It definitely was a "it's a small world" feeling on the day, that's for sure!

[HighPeakFox]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

It was nice to meet you in person again @HighPeakFox. Apologies, but I'm not going to share our picture because I don't feel comfortable posting it on here. I'm happy to engage with others on the forum and even meet in real life but tend to be a fairly private person in real life, hope you understand.

 

Hope all continues to go to plan and your life continues to be a blast! It definitely was a "it's a small world" feeling on the day, that's for sure!

Absolutely - in all seriousness, I wondered if that was the case, and in retrospect I think you're right.

[BKLFox]

Not sure if Harry wrote this but i re-read your post back with the theme to 'Our Tune' (Simon Bates) playing in the background, i did a little ad libbing with you dumping Strider telling him it's not him it's you & walking off into the sunset with Harry

[yorkie1999]

20 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

Not sure if Harry wrote this but i re-read your post back with the theme to 'Our Tune' (Simon Bates) playing in the background, i did a little ad libbing with you dumping Strider telling him it's not him it's you & walking off into the sunset with Harry

Well that's a coincidence.

[The Year Of The Fox]

One of the apprentices on our firm had his picture taken with his Dad up Wembley away before our 2016 Charity Shield game. He worked at Caterpillar at the time.

 

In the photo there’s my boss (and now his boss) walking immediately next to the photo subject. With his son, who’s now my apprentice

 

 

 

I used to work for a bigger firm that employs about 200 lads. One Monday the boss asked me to take a new starter with me for the day and show him the ropes. who’d moved from Perth back to Coalville. Cue the jokes about me making sure he’s not hanging his radiators upside down etc 

 

 

Nipped out to my van and went back to find the boss 10 mins later. He told me not to bother taking the new starter 

 

They also had another new starter that day, who’d also moved from Perth to start at our place. 
 

It turns out these new starters actually worked together for the same plumbing firm in Perth too! They’d said their goodbyes over there, without comparing notes as to where in the UK both were moving to. Then wind up in Coalville together a couple of weeks later. Incredible 

Edited 1 August 2022 by The Year Of The Fox

[HighPeakFox]

1 hour ago, BKLFox said:

Not sure if Harry wrote this but i re-read your post back with the theme to 'Our Tune' (Simon Bates) playing in the background, i did a little ad libbing with you dumping Strider telling him it's not him it's you & walking off into the sunset with Harry

Here's irony - Harry works with a DIFFERENT Simon Bates! 

[st albans fox]

Life throws up some amazing co incidences 

 

stuff you’d think was just nuts but it happens 

 

I’d been living with my wife for a few months in the early nineties (she wasn’t my wife then) and I was in Paris with my colleague (a fairly attractive young lady) for a trade fair. We were wandering around the shops of st Germain. Imagine my shock when i wandered out of a shop and straight into my soon to be in laws!  and they don’t live in Paris btw. Neither of us had any idea that we were both going to be in Paris - I had a tricky thirty seconds explaining what I was doing in a ladies clothing boutique with a pretty girl …. 

 

[HighPeakFox]

Bumping this, a few got into the spirit of it - I reckon there must be some more corkers of this type out there. @YearOfTheFox clearly got it!

[Jon the Hat]

16 hours ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

I used to work for a bigger firm that employs about 200 lads. One Monday the boss asked me to take a new starter with me for the day and show him the ropes. who’d moved from Perth back to Coalville. Cue the jokes about me making sure he’s not hanging his radiators upside down etc 

 

Nipped out to my van and went back to find the boss 10 mins later. He told me not to bother taking the new starter 

 

They also had another new starter that day, who’d also moved from Perth to start at our place. 
 

It turns out these new starters actually worked together for the same plumbing firm in Perth too! They’d said their goodbyes over there, without comparing notes as to where in the UK both were moving to. Then wind up in Coalville together a couple of weeks later. Incredible 

Jesus Christ.  I mean I can see why some people want to move back, but that is nuts.  Coalville!

[outfoxed77]

A good few years ago now my mates mum was moving house so I offered to help, we spent the Saturday moving her out and all went well.

 

That night went out for a few beers with a different mate who didn't know the first one and during the conversation asked what he was up to the next day, his mum was moving back to Leicester from Spain as I wasn't up to much offered to help.

 

Yep, she'd bought my other mates mums house, I spent all day moving stuff into a house I'd emptied the day before!

[The Year Of The Fox]

1 hour ago, Jon the Hat said:

Jesus Christ.  I mean I can see why some people want to move back, but that is nuts.  Coalville!

Me and the boss were equally as bemused