Here's my little celebrity story.
A little while ago (maybe a year or so), I was at Colchester station on my way into London. A train was already on the platform so I rushed in and set down next to a woman. We waited for the train to leave. After 5 minutes we heard an announcement asking us leave the train and telling us that there'd be no trains to London for a while (body on the line I'm afraid). The woman seemed very upset and muttered something about having a plane to catch. I went off to call my husband to pick me up (my journey wasn't essential). He suggested I find out if there were trains from Shenfield further down the line (on the Southend line) so that he could take me there.
I asked in the office, where the woman was now looking very anxious, and they said that there would be trains from Shenfield station. She asked if we could share a taxi there. I looked at her, thought she looked quite normal (!) and offered her a lift with my husband.
Whilst we waited for him she told me she was going to Gatwick to catch a plane to Mallorca! That sounded interesting so I asked some more. It was very complicated. She was meeting one of her sisters at Gatwick to fly to Mallorca to that sister's villa where their other sister was celebrating her birthday. It was to be a surprise visit.
On the way, I found out that she was going to Deia but knew nothing about it & had never been before. It didn't really sound like a place for a holiday villa but I told her that it had literary connections - Robert Graves, festivals etc. Ah, she said, that's probably why my brother-in-law chose it. He likes that sort of thing.
She then went on to explain that she'd be going out again with her teenage daughters at half-term. Was there anything for them to do? I wasn't too sure about that but, I told her, but I'd heard you may run into someone famous like Bob Geldorf in the supermarket. Oh that's good, she says, they like meeting famous people. Actually, she said, my brother-in-law is quite well known. Oh dear, I thought, I probably haven't heard of him. What's his name? I asked. Andrew Lloyd-Webber, she answered.
