Unexpected Encounters With Remarkable People
There are fascinating faces in unexpected places — everywhere you look
I’m sitting in the passenger seat of a breakdown truck. Alastair is taking me and my car home in the rain.
It’s a two-hour journey. I sit in silence. Moping. I already had a five-hour wait— the first garage never turned up and my recovery service had to call in another from further away.
Alastair apologises for the time it took. I’ve known people take out their frustrations on staff when it has nothing to do with them. My prolonged wait isn’t Alastair’s fault.
“It’s not your fault,” I say. I look at Alastair and smile.
Alastair is a big guy, 6ft 6", 120kg, 24-hour facial growth, orange overalls with black patches on the arms, lots of pockets, yellow vest. His balding head is trimmed to stubble, his face round, slits for eyes, downturned mouth. He’s exactly as I imagined.
I choose not to wallow in my misery.
When bad things happen, we can either mope or move on. Everything that happens to us is relevant. We can take something positive from everything.
In my head, I run through the usual questions you would ask a person who you don’t know and who is giving you a lift home for…
