Espionage

Monday morning and it's still raining here in Morpeth, but it's England and people keep asking me what else I expect!

It's been raining all weekend and it's been a fairly quiet weekend as well. Tim, Anna and the girls left Saturday afternoon to spend half term break in the Lake District. For the non-English readers there are 4 terms every school year and every half term the students get a week off of school. With the Hatch's gone I spent the weekend on my own in the house and it was pretty quiet...not much excitement. I did go for a run on Saturday in the late afternoon and a nasty driver decided it would be fun to hit a puddle going 60 miles/hour as he drove by and it completely drenched me! It was like a tidal wave that went right over my head. I wasn't too upset since it was already raining and I was already pretty wet, but still where is common courtesy on the road these days?

Oh! There was ixth hour last night in Newcastle which is always pretty good. They usually have a guest come on the stage and share a testimony for a few minutes and last night they had Fabiano Martell who is an actor from Sheffield. He acted in Tomb Raider 2 and said next he'll start working on a film called Night Vision. He shared how he became a Christian and it was really neat to here this person who's in the acting industry and he was so down to earth and talking about how the people who really have it together are not actors and Holly Wood but people who know Jesus. I was really excited.

But today, I participated in a bit of espionage. It was very exciting!
I had to run an errand to the bank to pay in some cheques. I arrived pretty soggy because of the rain, joined the queue and started filling in a pay in slip. While I was filling in my slip another person joined the queue behind me and since I was taking a bit with the slip he kind of was inching past me so I just turned to him and said "go ahead, I'll be a few minutes."
"Are you sure?" He asked me.
I was completely taken by surprise because the words that came out of his mouth were in a foreign accent, a North American Accent to be exact! This man wasn't from England and my how he stood out! Then I began to think...this is what i must've sounded like to people when I first arrived...wait a minute...this is how I still sound to people when I first talk to them! How weird! Over the year and a bit that I've been here the English accent has become my "normal"

During my wait in the queue I overheard his conversation with the bank teller and it all sounded so familiar. He wasn't sure what he needed to do with his card to get a pin number, he hadn't realized he needed a pay in slip to put cash into his account, he wasn't sure how his statements were going to work etc. All questions and issues I had to deal with when I first arrived in England and was learning how to adjust to life over here. It was so bizarre to listen now that I had become accustomed to it all.

Above all I really wanted to know why he was in morpeth of all places and where exactly he was from. Morpeth is not the most well known town in England. It's crazy how I ended up in this little place on this Island, another story really for another rainy day.

I determined that I was going to find these questions out so half distracted I fumbled my way through my conversation with the bank teller and then went to leave so I could catch him. Unfortunately he hadn't left the bank yet and had engaged a conversation with another employee as to how to change his pin and I was at a bit of a loss what I should do. I fumbled with my umbrella a bit trying to waste some time but that only lasted a couple seconds. I couldn't just stand around staring at him so I plunked myself down in front of a personal banker and asked a random question about my account. He asked for my card and began to look up the information I'd asked about. Meanwhile this foreigner had finished with his pin and was about to leave the bank and the personal banker I was talking to kept waffling on about my credit and the amount I would need to gain an overdraft on my account. The man left and my conversation continued for another good 5 minutes. Finally the personal banker made his point and I was quite relieved to get up and leave, saying a polite thank you and good bye of course. I hopped out the door of the bank and looked left and right to see where this man had gone and I couldn't see him anywhere so I just started walking, not actually thinking about what I was doing. Suddenly I spotted him! He was up near Woolworths with his black and white umbrella and just crossing the street. With my eyes on his umbrella I began to make my way up the street. He then turned into the Back Riggs shopping centre and was lost from my sight while I had to wait to cross the street. It then hit me what I was actually doing...."Oh my goodness, I'm stalking a complete stranger...I'm following them through town! What am I going to say when I catch up with him..hey I heard your accent in the bank and I'm a nosy Canadian who wanted to know where you're from!" The light turned green and the signal to cross began to beep and I walked across the street. "well, even if I don't actually talk to him, this is still kind of fun, I feel like I'm from the CSA or in a James Bond Movie, lets just go with the flow and see what happens!" I mean I figured I blended into the crowd with my black umbrella and my brown coat and I run errands around the high street all the time.

I entered the Back Riggs shopping centre and there was no sign of the man, I walked by the Health Food Store, The Post Office...I couldn't see him anywhere. The Bus Station! He must be going to get a bus! I hurried through the courtyard to the Bus Station thinking that if I missed him I would never know where he was from and my life would...well continue on the same but it didn't matter! I got to the bus station and there was no sign of him. I'd lost him! I was quite disappointed. As quickly as my espionage started it was over. I quickly came to my senses, realized I was traipsing around in the rain, getting wet and should get back to the office and do some work.

Honestly I don't know what came over me. Perhaps my overactive imagination from my childhood decided to make a reappearance, maybe it was the broody mood the weather was creating, maybe it was because I've read too many John Grisham books lately, who knows! It did make for an interesting Monday, that's for sure. I just hope that when I start making Death By Chocolate for the youth alpha tomorrow I don't start to imagine myself creating a weapon for mass destruction or anything like that, I would like it to be edible!