I overslept. Recurring theme in my recent trip The other is missing trains, buses and tubes!
I had very little time that day - gonna run to town, then pay a visit to Hana and see Debbie, her new born baby, and then back to London to have dinner with Andrew.
I was walking on the so-familiar road from the University of Essex leading to Tesco (Greenstead) - Boundary Road. I've walked up and down that road literally hundreds of times! It brought back many happy memories. Being the only road to town and Tesco, it was inevitable that i'd meet frens along the road.
There was once when we were all so busy with exams and assignements that me flatmates and i hardly saw each other. It was funny cuz when i was going to Tesco for more groceries, i met me good fren and flatmate, Michael. coming back with his groceries. We have not seen each other for so long that we actually stood by the road side and chatted! So ironic - we live in the same flat but had to catch up with each other by a chance encounter by the road side! We would have stayed there longer but his milk was getting warm in the summer sun.
Another time, i was coming home from a summer day's outing to London when i met Cheng who stayed off-campus and was going home. We chatted for so long - even tho i was freezing in the cold summer nite wind!
Anyways...
I was walking down the road, thinking of those happy memories and taking photos. I noticed that they have finally changed the signboard! Well, it has been so long! of course they would have.
As i walked on, i slowed my pace. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? Or was my walk down memory lane so vivid that it was beginning to blur the lines between reality and memories?
Sure enough, walking up the road was Ghisseh - another of my ex-flatmate!!!!!
NO!!! It can't be! She was back home in Syria for Christmas and New Year. She always goes back home for Christmas and New Year! Even Michael told me that she will not be on campus when i come a visiting.
But it was her! :-) :-)
The look of surprise on her face was priceless - and i'm sure it reflected the same look on my face. We hugged each other - as if needing some tangible proof that we were indeed seeing each other!
It was a wonderful feeling. I'm sorry if i failed to bring up the emotions i felt in this post. I had a super brilliant time with me flatmates back then. I have missed them all so badly. This time round, i went back to UoE knowing that none of them will be there. I stayed at Rayleigh Tower with a bunch of strangers. Even Michael was called home (to Athens) suddenly on a family emergency.
So to actually meet up with a flatmate! Wow! What a wonderful surprise! I travelled thousands of miles to a place and i bump into a frenly face along the road! I was not supposed to see her. She was supposed to be in Syria.
But imagine her surprise - i was supposed to be in Malaysia!!!! I had no reason to be on campus! I could see it really made her day. She was after all spending New Year's (and had spent Christmas) away from home. She had to stay on in UoE due to her workload. So our chance encounter lifted her spirits.
And the same for me. It really made my day - and ranks among the top on my list of best experiences in this trip back to the UK.
Ghisseh and me at the Playhouse (Autumn 2006)
And to think we almost did not meet. That would have been so sad. Because i woke up late, i was considering taking the bus to town. But i decided that i want to walk along the familiar roads to town. But if i had taken the bus... of if i had woken up earlier as planned...
As for her, she too was late and missed her bus. So she decided to walk to campus.
It could have been like in the movies - she on the bus looking one direction passing me as i walked by the roadside...
But no. We met. And i told her that i was so glad she missed her bus!
*He wrote this song for Chicago and he did a cover version of it when he released a colection of his solo hits.
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