Well this morning I got a nice surprise. I had to roll out of bed at 5.45am to make it to Heathrow Airport on time where I was meeting a friend at Arrivals. I literally threw on the clothes that were nearest to my bed and left the house in a hurry.
Fortunately I made it to the airport in good time and once there, I had a while to hang around and pretend I was in a remake of ‘Love Actually’ when they show people being reunited with each other.
I’d only waited about 10 minutes before none other than Mr Ed Sheeran (!!!) came through the gate! He’s no Hugh Grant but Hugh Grant can’t sing and Ed definitely has one up on him there…besides, this was a remake after all and the original was missing a good serenade and ballroom dancing scene, and so I figured it could work…although I am 6ft tall…and well…he, is definitely not.
It’s a funny thing, celebrity spotting. You don’t want to intrude on someone’s life, but at the same time when you admire someone so much, you can’t help but think that by telling them this, it’s going to somehow make a difference to their lives and yours! I’d love to get an idea of what it’s really like for them, just for one day…just to see how I’d cope with the demand for small talk with strangers, photos and autographs.
I couldn’t resist the urge to just say hi. As it was so early in the morning, the airport wasn’t crowded at all and it seemed that only 4 girls, including myself had spotted him…two of which were clearly very big fans. They got all nervous and shy and didn’t look like they were going to approach him so I quietly walked up and introduced myself, shaking his hand.
I’m not going to lie, I did ask for a photo… I’ve never really been bothered about autographs but a picture speaks a thousand words and managing to get a quick snap of you and a favourite celebrity is such a brilliant keepsake of such a fortunate moment. However Ed apologised and said he’d ‘literally just woken up…sorry’. I can’t deny I was disappointed, although it was probably for the best as I had no makeup on and potentially could have caused my camera to freeze with terror.
On a more serious note though, I completely understand why he and other celebrities wouldn’t want to, especially when the demand would probably be 24/7, and if he’d done it for me, then he would have probably felt obliged to do it for everyone else also.
I guess there’s a line as to where and when you should approach. I believe if they are with family/trying to enjoy dinner in a restaurant etc, then as tempting as it might be, it’s probably best to just admire from a far. If only there was some sort of way of knowing if it’s okay to or not!
