The Fangirl Radar

In the story about my involvement with Australian Crawl, I mentioned meeting James Reyne in Chapel Street, and someone wanted me to tell the story as I'd promised to do so.

Sometimes, it can feel like there's a little fangirl radar in your brain that leads you unwittingly to be in that right place at the right time. This was one of those times. My daughter was about eight months old, her father was away on tour with Men At Work and I had to pay a bill and do some shopping. The place where I lived was kind of midway between the city and Chapel Street as far as tram travel goes, so I could have gone either way and I had actually decided to go to the city. There was this odd feeling though that I ought to go to Chapel Street, but I hadn't been to the city for a while, so I ignored the feeling. With Nyssa in her stroller, I walked to the tram stop and boarded the tram, before realising I'd been at the closer tram stop which meant I was headed to Chapel Street. No matter, there was always plenty to do there too. 

With the bill duly paid, I was out on the street and aiming for Fosseys to see if I could find some affordable baby clothes. That odd feeling was still there and getting stronger. I heard voices behind me and the radar pinged so loudly I was surprised no one else heard it. I knew even before I saw his boots in my peripheral vision that it was James. I looked up and saw his girlfriend Jan, and then James recognised me. They stopped for a quick chat and James' first words were "Is that yours, Bubbles?" referring to the child in the stroller I was pushing. Gotta love him! It had obviously been quite a while since I'd seen him. I can't remember what else we talked about because, as always, he was in a hurry and I was treated to a peck on the cheek as he walked away.