September 2008, I boarded the Coast Starlight in Union Station, Portland, Oregon bound for San Francisco.

The vacant but reserved seat next to me would be occupied by a vivacious Italian girl who got on in Eugene. She and I talked about Italy, family, food and all the stuff that makes a train ride memorable. She got off somewhere over the state line in the middle of the night, but not before we had exchanged numbers. We’ve kept in touch ever since.

A fan of reggae music she asked last week if I’d heard of the musician Finley Quaye as he has some Scottish heritage. It’s a small world as I not only had heard of him but we knew him as a kid. His mother was a friend of my folks. My sister played with him in St Stephens St in Stockbridge when kids could safely play on the streets.

He recalled the shop my mother ran but was keen to meet the guy who ran the flower shop across the road.

That would be Graham Croan Bee, he and his mother were besties. He has also been our stand in stunt dad for my, my brother and sister’s weddings.

I’ve given Luciana his details. I hope they can meet up again soon.

The following year I rode the same train. I was assigned a seat in the dining car with a burlesque dancer called Fleur de Lethal, she never calls.

Any similar tales?

I once got stuck on the last train from Dorking to Horsham with some drunken skinhead who ripped a striplight out of the ceiling then bled all over my shoe. I didn’t get his number

Wait, so did Finley and Luciana meet?
Who was the stand in, Graham or Finley?

@mcmoonter… You are a hero….. like Robert DeNiro 😀

Wait, so did Finley and Luciana meet?
Who was the stand in, Graham or Finley?

Finley and Luciana emailed each other.

Graham is the stand in stunt dad.

Finley may have been named after my dad Finlay, which may prove embarrassing if there is a DNA test. We just thought she liked the name. 😯

You are a hero….. like Robert DeNiro

Well done 🙂

September 2008, I boarded the Coast Starlight in Union Station, Portland, Oregon bound for San Francisco.

The vacant but reserved seat next to me would be occupied by a vivacious Italian girl who got on in Eugene. She and I talked about Italy, family, food and all the stuff that makes a train ride memorable. She got off somewhere over the state line in the middle of the night……

That has to be the best start to the best book ever written! Please let me know when it’s published.

Remembered Finley Quaye so did a quick Google. Doesn’t make for jolly reading 🙁

monksie +1

Small world rather than friends from me.

A neighbour was sat in my house in Sheffield. He commented that the lady in the wedding photo looked familiar, and for the previous year of being a neighbour and popping round for brews had thought so. It was my sister – whom it transpired had been in the same school class in Southern India for three years as this neighbour…
The neighbours mother and father were the ‘house parents’ at this school. I asked for a picture of he wall behind the desk in the office in India – and pointed out my Grandparents picture was in the middle of the wall, they having been house parents there in the 60’s and 70’s…
.
.

The same grandparents (from my mothers side) were on a long tour of Australia in late 1990’s. They had hired a car for a few days and found themselves in a small town east of Melbourne for a night in a last minute booked hotel. They went to reception, to ask about borrowing the phone to call UK, as they thought that their son in laws brother lived in Melbourne and they thought they would see if they could meet the random related family, last seen at a wedding in 1969.
The conversation with the receptionist took a turn when they mentioned the name of the son in law. The receptionist led them out the hotel, a dozen doors up a residential street next door and shouted ‘Ian! Guests for you, mate!’ at the family in the back garden….

Yikes 😯

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg9tBXwonIY[/video]

first thing that came to my mind, sadly 🙁

[/quote]Remembered Finley Quaye so did a quick Google. Doesn’t make for jolly reading

From Wiki ‘Quaye’s mother had long term relationships with musician Pete King who hosted and performed at Ronnie Scott’s club in Frith Street, London, as well as Dodi Fayed who was a film producer who produced Breaking Glass with Hazel O’Connor.’

Thinks the establishment may have thought so too 😯