busker

We meet at last

Hoorah! I can remove another item from my swelling list of 43-Things to do: Meet fellow Islander and eclectic blogista Julie Leung.

This momentous encounter took place - where else? - in the checkout line at Safeway. I was pacing up and down, trying to judge the fastest moving line ... and suddenly there she was, unloading a mountain of victuals and looking exactly like herself, maybe nicer.

As usual in this so-called "real" life, it was fleeting and disjointed.

In movies and the best books, the hero is impeccably dressed, not a hair out of place and wallet bulging with all the right credits cards. To allow him to engage the fragrant heroine in debonair conversation, the movie checkout line is always empty *plus* a manservant there to carry the hero's purchases out to the limo. This leaves Master free to swap witty repartee with aforesaid leading lady. Nice image.

*I* on the other hand was at my scruffiest uncombed, having just showered after a sluggish workout, my hair fluffy in the geriatric beatnik style it favors.

Mrs Leung, of course, totally serene and organized as she wheeled in supplies to feed an army and - speaking of which - at the same time keeping control of a flotilla of unnaturally well-behaved children.

With me, shopping with even one daughter used to reduce me to a sweaty wreck, capped at the checkout with the dahling timing her escape for exactly when I was tapping in the account details.

I don't know what came over me, usually so silent:

"Are you Julie Leung?"

She was, we shook hands ... at which point I went straight into my shy mode, asking how the BC NorthernVoice gig had gone but really just wanting to get out of her way so she could focus on shopping and offspring herding. I was aided in my flight by the fact that the sheer purchasing power in the Leung trolley made the queue the very *worst* one to join.

(Actually, I knew perfectly well how BC had gone from her Seedlings blog - she brought tears to at least one pair of eyes). Do read it; J has such a kindly truthful style, the complete opposite of my own snide and juvenile offerings.