Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Keeping with the ‘famous’ theme; because people visiting Stratford expect that they might spot a famous person, sometimes you yourself may be mistaken for one…

 

I went into one of my favourite haunts, The Vintner Café Wine Bar, placed my order, picked up a newspaper and relaxed, soaking in the congenial atmosphere.

 

There was a couple sitting at a table for two on the other side of the room and I couldn’t help but notice that the woman was regarding me with some interest. I acknowledged her attention with a lift of the eyebrows and a pleasant smile. She smiled back at me.

 

She leant across the table and spoke to her partner and pointed in my direction, he then glanced over at me. I say glanced but he did look for slightly longer than I consider polite. I gave a nod of the head and smiled at him too. He seemed surprised to be acknowledged by a ‘famous’ person and smiled warmly back at me.

 

They became engaged in deep discussion, occasionally looking over at me. I began to feel a little uncomfortable and thought that this is what real famous people must put up with all the time. I tried to appear unperturbed and continued reading the paper.

 

I became aware that they seemed to be in some disagreement; possibly over where they had seen me before. 

 

They summoned the waiter and questioned him. The waiter looked over his shoulder at me before turning back and responding. The couple nodded excitedly. I took a sip of coffee and maintained an air of calm dignity.

 

Then the woman looked over towards me again before saying “Yes! I think we’ll both have the carrot and coriander soup with continental bread.”

 

I turned my head and registered the fact that I was sitting in front of the “Specials” menu before becoming very deeply engrossed in the newspaper.

 

As the poet Emily Dickinson wrote “Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate.”