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Brief Encounter

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Deciding not to get the tube from Fulham Broadway, partly because my travelling companion advised me not to, I jumped aboard a bus bound for South Kensington tube station. The idea was that it would be quicker than queuing at Fulham Broadway, changing at Earls Court and then journeying onto Blackfriars. He wasn?t wrong.

However, whilst sitting on the downstairs deck, our bus seemed to be crawling through the metropolitan traffic. Glancing around the bus, it was relatively full. However, nothing was to prepare me for what was to happen next. As the bus ground to a halt, at yet another set of lights, my travelling companion began frantically beating on the window and shouting at the top of his voice, ?Arjen, Arjen?

Looking outside I could see the distinctive figure of Arjen Robben sitting in his luxury car adjacent to our bus. Despite trying to engage in a telephone conversation with somebody unknown, Arjen and my travelling companion started to hold one of those conversations that are so simple but create so many ripples of excitement with people straining their necks to get a better view.

After acknowledging that my travelling companion was a familiar face, Arjen smiled and held a thumb up in our direction. Screaming at the top of his voice, my travelling companion then asked if Arjen was alright. Once again we got a thumb up from the talented Dutch winger. Despairingly, although Arjen was willing to participate in sign language, his situation didn?t lend itself to a vocal conversation. However, that didn?t stop my travelling companion who now had the lower deck of the bus in the palms of his hands from continuing.

Seeing that the traffic lights were about to change, the one-way conversation proceeded at a pace that would have scared many a recipient off. ?Are you fit?? was one question. Again a thumbs-up in response was received. ?Where are you going? was to be the next but it was too late, the lights had changed and our own brief encounter had ended. However, it had made the whole of the lower decks journey so much better.

I wonder if Arjen had a curfew to obey!

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