grand tour of the middling sort

Green Dragon Yard

The universe works in mysterious ways.  When Steve and I were in London last May we met three funny friendly fellow beer aficionados at The Rake, a pub in Borough Market.  We struck up a conversation with John, Andy and Hamish and covered such topics as beer, good pubs in London, World War II, US politics (got a bit heated a times), UK tax law (got very heated at times), Australia, New Zealand and Margaret Thatcher.  A two-pint-afternoon devolved into a many-pint night and thank goodness John and Andy had the wherewithal to put us on the correct bus back to our hotel at closing time.

Hamish had given us his contact info for the next time we were in town, but amidst selling our furniture, putting some items in storage and packing for this trip neither of us could locate it.  We remembered that he was a Kiwi,  lived south of the Thames, and worked for Nicholson’s, the company that owns many pubs in the UK.  We thought that we may run into him, but in a city of almost 8 million people our changes were slim.

After another day at the Borough Market earlier this week, we decided to walk home, going across London Bridge, past the Great Fire Monument, through The City of London back to Aldgate High Street and then Whitechapel Road.  On Aldgate High Street we passed a pub that we liked the looks of called The Hoop and Grapes.  We went in and it was busy with pre-Easter drinkers but we were able to locate some seats.  The bartender who served Steve our drinks looked very familiar.  I thought about it for a bit – Hamish!  I think it’s Hamish! After convincing Steve that this could be the case, and some back-and-forth wondering if we should ask him, we decided to pose the question: “Is your name Hamish?”

YES.

Hamish, Andy and Emma at The Hoop and Grapes

Yes!  We had found him!  He remembered that night last year and details about us and our conversation.  Later that evening Andy joined us.  Hamish is the guy on the left and Andy in the middle in the photo above.

What are the chances?  Things happen when you least expect them.

The universe is a green dragon. I got the name for this post from the title of a book by Brian Swimme.  In the book The Universe is a Green Dragon Swimme explores how the cosmos is mystical and powerful and creative and whole.

Oh, and by the way, our flat is located on Green Dragon Yard: