So I was going to tell you about this time when I was walking up the main road from the tube station after this date I’d been on, actually around here too. It’s about a 10 minute walk from the tube to my house but it was quite late and I was a bit pissed, it’s not that far, you walk past a Sainsbury’s local, and then this Italian restaurant that constantly changes its name and then a corner shops and then just flats and houses.
Anyway, I do that walk all the time, but I had been drinking G&T’s in a bar In Brixton playing Justin Timberlake to a super cramped dance floor, there was a disco ball and pop-art inspired prints around the DJ deck. Anyway so I got off the tube and I was feeling giddy, humming along to Bob Dylan. I really like Bob Dylan and 60’s, 70’s kind of music.
Nearing the turning that leads to my house, I noticed that I was walking side by side with a man. It was late, and the later it gets the less you want to appear to be looking at someone, but I couldn’t resist. I never really can.
He was quite short, not that I’m shaming him, but I’m obviously quite tall so he came up to my shoulders and I remember that he was bald. Anyway, he began to mirror my pace and accelerate to catch up with me. Like a race. We were walking in tandem, then in parallel and then back again like a tango for a while. But it was mutual, this race. As he changed his pace I copied. I walked faster. He walked faster. I was determined to beat him. So I look him dead in the eyes now, like this, and begin to power walk ahead of him. At this point, he stopped behind me and called something out.
So I took out my headphones, the harmonica from Like A Rolling Stone blaring out, like the soundtrack to the biopic of my life, and I said hello. We were about 3m apart, I had my back to the turning towards my house. All I could think about was how late it was and to be honest with you why was I engaging with this random man on an empty street?
And then he said, ‘Are you trying to beat me?’. His voice was playful; South London accent and his eyes were sparkling in the street lights, quite impish. I laughed and stayed really still, trying to be as warm and receptive as possible. I said that yes I was and then laughed really nervously. The man then went on to ask me if I was a local to the area.
So I was completely honest, kind of cos I didn’t know what else to do and I was so close to home now so could just run back if needs be. So I said ‘Yes. Yes I am local’. And then he asked ‘How had he never seen me before?’ Well, I couldn’t answer that, I was standing at an angle, so that I could easily continue walking toward home, while keeping an eye on him. He asked me which pubs I went to and I listed all the locals, really throwing caution to the wind at this point. I just wanted to keep it all above board, nice and polite so we could finish the conversation.
He was really well known around the area according to him; ‘oh how lovely’ I said, ‘what for?’. He was quite close to me, so that I could see all his features, he was fair with ginger stubble. He had blue eyes and he held his head high; he was wearing a black puffer jacket and his hands were in his pockets. I waited, now awkwardly shuffling and watching my breath in the cold air.
‘I am the biggest Princess Diana super-fan in the world’ he said.
I nodded and smiled. What? I was thinking, what? Then we just walked together to the turning of my road and he continued to tell me that he had been on various television programs, he had a Facebook page and a twitter devoted to Princess Diana facts: she was the first royal bride to have a paying job, did you know? Nursery school teacher. Also really into astrology which I did think was kind of cool as I do check mine quite a lot, I’m a Taurus. Then we got on to Will and Kate’s wedding and how many drinks he had and who he was with and what he was wearing and how beautiful Kate looked, but it all came back to Diana. He was turning 36 soon and that’s the age Diana was when she died and I agreed that death is so weird and how short life is and anyway It was now nearing on 2am and I had an extensive list of Youtube links, google image pages and a massive list of websites to visit when I got home. I thanked the man for all of his knowledge on Princess Diana and the royals, we hugged as if we had been friends for years and I have never seen that man ever again in my life.
Like a sort of chimera, the princess diana superfan seemed to appear only on a blue moon and be totally, earnestly intent on relaying me this information about Princess Diana. But I haven’t contacted him since which is a shame really, but I think I sort of want to keep it as that moment you know.