People you meet

I was sitting on a bus the other night.

Not a joke, honestly.

My other half was a few rows back as the bus was quite full, but I found myself sitting next to an interesting man. Complete stranger. Never seen him before in my life. Yet we quickly struck up a lively conversation about this and that. I don't think I intentionally studied his face or his voice, his way of speaking, but we do that little analysis without thinking really, don't you think?

There wasn't much space on the bus for all the bags that we tend to carry at this time of year, so the seating arrangement was less than comfortable. You soon get to know your fellow travellers that way. I had a nagging concern that my breath might be stale and wished I had some gum.

Randomly, the conversation turned to music, musical taste and guitar. Not sure how many of you are conversant with, or remember, the English Electric Lightning interceptor jet and the afterburner fitted to its engines. Well, at the mention of guitar, the afterburner lit and the conversation climbed steadily to Mach 1.5 or thereabouts. Pretty fast anyway. I found that soon we really hit it off and knew each other intimately - likes, ways and looks - without trying. Just kind of comfortable and intimate.

I forget now how long the journey was, or even where we went to. You see, it was a dream. What puzzles me, though, is where this person I have never met - a complete stranger - came from in such 'real life' detail. One day, as memory begins to fail me, that conversation and the bus ride will be as real to me as any other. Maybe it was.