Many years ago. A church-owned hostel in what was then still called Bombay. With a couple of hours to spare I picked up a travel book by Vikram Seth from a handy shelf. I read a very funny passage in which he describes his travelling companion: a Scotsman who speaks in "Bertie Wooster" English and sings Robert Burns songs by a campfire at an oasis in the desert and walks in carpet slippers after a footwear accident. With huge surprise it dawned on me that I
know that man. I've
met that man. The son of a good friend and chaplain from university
A couple of months ago. I had been walking for nearly a month on the Japanese island of Shikoku without meeting another non-Japanese person. Standing waiting at a temple's office window a voice from behind me said "You don't look very Japanese". I turned around, looked at the man and replied that neither did he. Turned out the man was from Wales - from a small town about 40 miles from my home. Travel half way round the world and the very first Westerner I meet is from Haverfordwest of all places...