My day had already been a good one. My Friday weights session (legs, heavy) had been painful but rewarding. Work was busy but manageable and finished at 1pm, after which I made what has become a regular half-hour journey to the London School of Theology to meet my good friend Conrad Gempf. During the course of a leisurely pub-lunch we pretty much solve all of the major problems of the universe, before moving on to more important subjects like typography, theology and music. Life really doesn't get much better than this.
We parted with a warm hug and I drove back to my house. The weather was sunny and warm, so I lowered the windows and dialled up my 'Latest' iPod playlist on the Previa's stereo. Cara Dillon is one of my recent 'finds', and I was just settling in to her spine-tingling rendition of 'Saint Theresa' as I pulled up at a red light in Eastcote high street. I was broken out of my reverie by someone gesturing at me from a car that had pulled up beside me. Expecting it to be someone demanding I turn the music down, I twisted the volume knob anti-clockwise as I turned to see a very attractive woman smiling and gesturing at me from the driving seat of a battered Citroën Saxo.
"Who is that playing?" she asked. I glanced briefly at the iPod display before responding "Cara Dillon". "It's lovely, really lovely", responded the woman, still beaming that gorgeous smile. "Yes", I responded as the traffic lights changed to green. "Is that with a K, or a C", asked the woman as she prepared to pull away. "C", I responded, "This track isn't on..." but she was turning right, and I wasn't...
I drove home with a broad smile on my face. For just a few seconds there had been a wonderful connection. I will almost certainly never see her again, and have no strong desire to. Will she go out and buy one of Cara's CDs, or visit the iTunes site and download some of her work? I'll never know. I do know that it is lunches with Conrad, artists like Cara and those occasional 'traffic light' events that warm and enrich the chain of events that is my life.
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1 comment:
Just as well you weren't playing Dylan.. .the gestures would have been different :-)
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