All Miked up

I've had many experiences that prove "it's a small world" and this afternoon was another such. I spent the day in Sheffield and left the office around 3.30pm to catch the early train home.

This is a train that is regularly standing at the station 15-20 minutes before its departure time, so I was waiting on the platform for the doors to be opened when a man walked past me and looked up and down the track as if expecting a different train to be there. As he glanced to left and right I caught sight of him in profile and immediately thought I recognised him, but it wasn't until he turned right around and faced in my direction that I could be sure.

I'd worked with him over twenty years ago in VME support and hadn't seen him since, but it was definitely him. "How's it going, Mike?" I asked casually.

He looked over towards me. There was a moment or two's hesitation and then he broke into a smile of recognition. "Hello!" he said, grinning broadly. "How are you?" We shook hands, exchanged pleasantries, and struck up a conversation. After about five minutes he said, "John Beresford, isn't it." To be fair, I've changed a lot more in those twenty years than he has.

If I was any good at complex mathematics I could, I expect, calculate the probability of meeting someone at random at any given public transport terminus in the UK on any given afternoon. I don't think it would be very high, but no matter how likely it would prove to be it still seems strange when it happens.

Since he too was waiting for the Manchester train we boarded together and spent the hour-long journey catching up. Is it just an accident, or is "fate" sending me these people who have become disillusioned with the computing industry and opted for jobs with less stress? It wasn't long ago that I'd heard news of the guy who had retrained as a long-distance lorry driver and now here was another example of someone who'd turned his back on the frantic pace of life as an IT consultant and was enjoying himself immensely by working as ... a car delivery agent.

Ever wondered how that particular car you ordered from the dealer, who told you it was in the Oxted branch, gets delivered to your local dealership? Someone like Mike drives it there, that's how. Self-employed and working only those hours or days he wants to, he phones his agency and they tell him where to go to pick up a car, and where to deliver it. And then, sometimes, where to go for the next one, and where to drive that. In between, he's on his own, so Mike had pretty much committed the entire rail and bus network of the UK to memory, but also carried with him a random sample of OS maps, a flask of tea, and a supply of fruit.

He was as happy as Larry. A relatively lonely existence it's true, and long hours (he often doesn't get home until midnight), but on the plus side he gets to drive a lot of brand new very fancy motors, sees the country from the open road (poop! poop!) and enjoys a lot of healthy exercise walking between depots and train/bus stations.

We exchanged anecdotes about people we'd worked with in the past that one or other of us had recent news of, shared memories of those we knew who had passed on, and generally caught up. A more pleasant way to pass a train journey I can't imagine, and certainly preferable to having my head buried in my book for an hour. I don't suppose I'll ever see him again but I'm glad I did. It's good to be reminded that there is life outside of IT.