Quotidian Things

Photo by Marques Thomas on Unsplash

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I catch his eye as I am trying to decide which aisle to go through, or if – with my stack of stuff – I can sneak through the self service tills. We exchange the nod, which I chalk up to being nothing more than that universally black, wordless, I see you. In the end, fortuitously, a new till opens up and I unload my stuff, a small sense of smugness simmering below the surface. There must have been a flash of recognition, because after what seems like a few seconds of indecision in which he moves for the self service tills, then towards me and then repeats that motion, he ends up with his stuff two people behind.

AJ? he calls out somewhat tentatively as the cashier rings up my stash. I nod in response, as it all begins to come back slowly. In my mind’s eye I see him as were were nearly twenty years ago, as we wrapped up undergrad in my other country. we would be dispersed to the ends of that country for a year of national service, following which we would all make our way into the world. In my case, there were five years of working on the rigs in the south eastern swamps, then a year of grad school and then the first season of being prodigal – first in the North of England, then the North of Scotland.

Having seen and being seen, I hang around as he takes his turn with his stash, pays and then ambles across to me. We shake hands excitedly as he introduces himself by the nickname we all called him. It turns out his journey to this little Surrey town also took him to the North East of Scotland and then multiple jaunts to different parts of the world.

It is not everyday I see a black face out and about in our little town, a fact best evidenced by the closest thing to an African shop being one town over, with opening hours which can only be due to the lack of competition. Time and chance – and deciding to grab a coffee after church the next town over, then visiting the shops – a sequence of events which on another day might not have been are the reasons why our paths have crossed today. Like two ships – or needles in a haystack – our paths have crossed, somewhat fortuitously. I like to think the universe wanted me to see a friendly face today.