Travelogue: It's A Small World

It is often said by the insiders in my industry that the industry has only about a hundred people in it. It only seems larger because we keep moving around. I have had many examples of this, but none as striking as the one that occurred about an hour ago.

As I was about to wrap-up for the evening, a colleague of mine sent me an email that the Development Team was headed out for a pint at a pub a few stops up the Bakerloo line from the office; they have a new member who has just relocated over from an outlaying office. They are celebrating over a pint. He sent the message by way of invitation and told me that I was welcome to join in.

It was a fun time. It was an odd time. A while into the festivities, one of my colleagues turned to me. "I know you." She said to me. "Well, I know of you." She corrected.

I was embarrassed to say that I thought I knew who she was, but wasn't really sure. I will have to ask tomorrow.

"I've been to your house. You weren't there, of course."

So I'm off the hook? I thought. Perhaps this person knows me, but I don't know her.

"You used to work with my sister-ion-law." She said by way of clarification and she named one of the women I used to work with when I lived over here a few years ago. "I used to be with Columbine."

Ah! 'Columbine,' the old name of my former company… well, one of the old names, at least. This was starting to make sense. I must have looked puzzled because she continued.

"In fact, we know a lot of the same people."

I decided to quit thinking in italics and start talking. We compared notes of who we had seen most recently and what everyone was up to. It was a lovely conversation until someone at the table pointed out that we no longer work for that company and that we were here to propose a toast to the new member of the team.

It was a lovely evening, and it was confirmed, I had not committed a social faux pas. She had known me remotely, but we had never actually met. We have now. Isn’t it a small world!?

Wherever you are today I hope that you have met a new friend or reconnected with an old one!

Don Bergquist - 01 February 2011 - Maida Vale, London, UK