Monday 28 June 2010

The past is a foreign country. . . .

While living in New York I used to go to a yoga class every week. One day a girl came in and lay down on the mat opposite. I knew her but I hadn't seen her for about 14 years, we were at college together. I was amazed, what are the chances of that? So afterwards I said hello. But the thing is, I didn't actually know her very well. Well. . . . .not at all really, she was in jewellery and I was in ceramics. But I couldn't let such an extraordinary coincidence go unnoticed, could I? However, there was really nowhere to go with it. After a brief exchange about what we were doing there, we ran out of steam. We weren't friends before, there was really no reason why we should be now. And so we parted company. But I couldn't help feeling there should have been some earth shattering, universe clashing meaning to this random meeting so many miles and years away from where we'd originally met. But there wasn't. It was just a thing. One of those things. A coincidence. A blast from the past that had no place in the present.

In the last couple of weeks my past seems to have become very much part of my present. It started when I went to the secret cinema. We gathered at Canary Warf in the drizzling rain, many dressed in elaborate costumes, all sporting our goggles, and were taken off to an unknown destination: an exotic bazaar where we ate noodles and drank beer. The not-so-secret film was Blade Runner, which I hadn't seen since it's original release. While performers abseiled from the ceiling my mind was filled with 1980s me: big hair, lip gloss and Harrison Ford fantasies. Then I went to a summer party deep down in the country, thrown by a friend I hadn't seen for 15 years. I don't really do that whole reunited thing but I have to say it really was a lovely evening, resulting in the most surprising proposal of the year....so far....Then I was invited to a Jamiroquai gig by a chap I've know since I was 15. I have seen him in the interim years but not much recently. Once there 2 other guys I hadn't seen for 20 years popped up. A few days later I had dinner with a friend I'd know when I lived in LA. She still lives there and as her family has grown doesn't get to visit very often. We met at the Paramount on the 33rd floor of Centre Point which truly has one of the most incredible views: 360 degrees of illuminated, night time London, and of course there was the return to Glastonbury after a 20 year hiatus. It really has been a very odd time, quite literally like seeing my life flash before me.

Top tip: Alabama 3's Revolver Soul for summer listening



2 comments:

  1. You are have done some serious living, how fantastic!

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  2. I hope my past stays firmly where it belongs - in the past! I love your social whirl! x

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