I saw Bryan Robson in Costco yesterday

Gel and I went to Costco yesterday thinking it would be out last before Christmas. Stocking up on bog roll, bagels, and a large jar of marmalade (and a few other necessities). While I pushed my trolley down towards the nets of lemons and limes, I happened to notice that another middle-aged gentleman had beaten me to it. Former Manchester United and England captain, Bryan Robson. I should have been more alert and had a good look in his basket, but was so surprised I failed to do so.

My friend Simon and I have a little game, which involves us texting the name of a famous person, should we spot one 'out of context'. If I saw David Beckham playing for United then that wouldn't count. If he was in Tesco with Mrs Beckham, then it would. Had we been undertaking this game at the time when I saw Posh and Becks in Tesco at Handforth, then a text would have been sent.

In the last two weeks I've sent him Bryan Robson (Costco), Badly Drawn Boy (Manchester Arndale), Chris Ecclestone (coming out of the Royal Exchange), and Gary Neville (walking down Deansgate).

In reply I've he's sent me Sean Lock and Jonathan Davies. Being in London, Simon always gets a much wider range of famous people.

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When the internets first started, it never really occurred to me that I might need to retain some of my anonymity. I used to rail against spam emails by replying to them I didn't respect them, or what they stood for.... really helpful. All it did was alert them that it was a 'live' eMail address they'd hit.

After a short while, I decided that I'd implement a modicum of deception would be helpful, so I started to use swiftybilko as my online presence. This is a name that is anonymous, except to some people who know me. My nickname at school was Griff, but when I started working and hanging out with grown ups in pubs, I found that I'd been dubbed Swifty after an episode of the Phil Silvers show.
Dick van Dyke appeared as Ernie Bilko's hapless young cousin and I was tagged as Swifty Bilko.

After that I have adopted a couple of other nom de guerre, including Lola Granola, which is a character from Berkeley Breathed's truly magnificent cartoon strip Bloom County (Opus, the penguin, was engaged for a long time to vegetarian artist Lola before abandoning the idea marriage when he was concussed while kissing her and dreaming of their future).

One of the "little things" that gives me pleasure, is when I see any of my online presences in the real world.

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Time Lapse

Here's another from Monday with Phil. Not nearly as successful as the one I posted last time. It's the Mersey Ferry coming in to dock at the Pier Head.