Weird And Gay Windows.

"Photo One: 30/06/12"

There's a middle-aged pan-handler, who pops up in random places in my life. She is hard to miss; with her withered gurnable face, wearing clothes unfashionable ten years ago. She carries a bag full of empty bags, and – like all good weirdos, loads herself with bizarre comments mixed in with bouts of manic street preaching; my favourite so far, the time in Edgware Starbucks I overheard her say to herself – after an unsuccessful begging attempt “I hate asking people with glasses”. Over the last three years, I have seen her in places such as Harrow, Edgware, Uxbridge, and Tottenham Court Road. She always asks me for money, I always turn her down; I am charitable by choice, not any force of social responsibility. That and she fucking stinks.

The trouble is, I am a believer that every person we meet on our solitary journey of life, we are meant to come into contact with. And any two souls whose seemingly random paths crossover – over and over, are part of a rich tapestry, far too advanced to be understood by our primitive human minds. Allow me to explain…

On June 30^th, 2012, I took part in The Great Drag Race; a male only 10k run around Highbury Park - in drag, to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer. It was a good day, and made me realise life as a woman is hard; that and the knowledge I am such an ugly woman, I make the average twelve-pinter look like Nicole Scherzinger. One odd lingering memory of the day, was the guy in photo one; an overweight, ginger spice wannabe who never even ran the race, yet who took great satisfaction in the attention he received – quite an achievement, when you consider the amount of Queens in the park that afternoon. I don’t know why, but he stood out. Even more so a week later, when I strolled past this same guy - wearing the exact same get up, engaged in some quality mincing through Euston. 

This past Saturday, June 29^th2013, I was in Central London with my girlfriend, having one of those general days out couple have. Unbeknownst to us, it was the afternoon of the annual Pride festival. In which gays and lesbians worldwide, celebrate their preference for having physical and emotional relationships with members of the same sex. As I waited outside Topshop while my girlfriend searched for a skirt, the parade happened to pass Oxford Circus; where - from a distance, I got to view passing high raised parade signs, carrying banners such as “Gay Jews in London”, “ITV Benders”, and my clear favourite, “Queer Quakers”; which I wasn't even aware is possible - I guess it is. 

"Photo Two; 29/06/13"

Watching from a distance, and hearing a party atmosphere nobody creates with such energy like the gay community, I had to get a closer look at a parade stretching a good five miles long. As soon as my girlfriend arrived outside, we decided to walk to Marble Arch and catch a front row glimpse of the tail end of the proceedings. We only saw around 1% of the overall floats up close, but one of them was being led by this fella; photo two. Yep, of all the thousands of prancers my eyes could witness, old Ginger Spice pops up, again! Same dress, same style, on almost the exact anniversary of last year. I don't think he remembered me.

  

Maybe I am meant to give old stinky lady money. I almost gave her a tenner once, just to see her reaction. Then my rational mind took over and decided she could go fuck herself; and would probably blow it on Special Brew anyway - or a stronger bag to carry her empty bags. But if that were true, surely I would feel like it was an error not to help her – which I don’t. Maybe the overweight Ginger Spice is meant to teach me some kind of tolerance to homosexuality. But again, I’ve never had issue with gender-benders; I prefer to define humans on how they treat living beings, not where their knobs go on an average evening. I guess there is the possibility of the two being reincarnations I once knew in a past life – where I need to fulfil some issue from the past. Or maybe, it is all just a huge coincidence. I don’t believe it is, but am always open to all probabilities.

In the end, I believe they are here to simply remind me how all human paths are interconnected. A conversation with either would likely prove fruitless; though crazy lady may contain funky viewpoints on social communication, or how the imminent apocalypse will happen - they always believe in Armageddon. I am glad to be aware they exist, even those these two oddballs have no idea I do. Now I think about it a little more, this work both ways…

There are always going to be people who pop into our lives throughout its course, seemingly without reason or rhyme. And if anybody has any similar stories of this, I would love to hear them. And if anyone from the gay community knows who Ginger Spice is? I would love to hear from them too.

Lee.