Rare Encounters in Ashbourne.

I was in a charity shop in Ashbourne today, idly regarding the bric-a-brac on some shelves, when I felt a sharp prod in my back. I turned, expecting to find some less than polite person attempting to elbow me out of the way. What I found was that my back was very close to the end of a free-standing display unit and there was nobody but me at that end of the shop. What was hanging on the end of the unit, however, was a child’s Halloween ghost costume. And, needless to say, there was no child occupying it, at least not a physical one.

The Ashbourne trip was otherwise eminently forgettable as far as I remember, apart from maybe two other mildly noteworthy encounters.

The first was with some bottles of beer on offer at half price in the supermarket. They purported to contain smoked dark beer of quite high strength. I had to get one, of course, partly because they were a bargain, but mostly because I’ve never had smoked dark beer before. In fact, I’ve never had smoked beer of any colour before. I didn’t know there was any such thing as smoked beer, and such a discovery sits well with my proclivity for lifelong learning.

The second was a close encounter with HT54 at a distance of about 8ft and a closing speed of around 100mph. The experience, though noteworthy for its rarity, was oddly unsatisfying. I didn’t even have time to whistle.