It’s always kind of fun to see famous people, even when they’re not that interesting. I’m not sure why. I can remember acting like a groupie at a rock concert when a I saw Dukakis at a rally back in high school. Yes, that Dukakis. And yes, I must have been an odd girl. Still, it is fun to see personalities in real life and we’ve spotted a string of “B” list celebs in the last week or so.
First it was Jamie Oliver. You know the young Brit chef who is kind of cute but not really. We stumbled onto his book signing in Borough Market on our last day ın London. Since the book was bigger than our backpacks, we passed on the signing, but stood around long enough to watch him flirt with his fans.
The next sighting came later that day as we sat down at a restaurant in Heathrow Airport. I looked over and saw a clean cut, middle age guy in sensible brown shoes, khaki pants, white shirt, red tie and blue blazer. Kind of looks like a politician. Hey, that’s Kucinich. Dave of course didn’t believe me, and since his back was turned he couldn’t catch a good glimpse of him. Dave taunted me to go over and talk to him, but what would I say? “Hey there Mr. Kucinich. I have a lot of respect for you, but never vote for you for Presıdent.” Or Dave’s suggestion was, “Hey there. So what’s it like to meet Hillary?” So while we sat around thinking of inappropriate things to say to him, all the while arguing if it was really him at all, I think my continous staring probably unnerved him. He took his food to go and bolted for the gate.
Our last sighting came as we were kicking back in the shade just outside the ticket gate at Petra. In the distance we saw a good looking black man talking with one of the guards from the gate – clearly getting, or trying to get, some kind of special treatment. Hmm. Not tall enough and not enough bling to be an NBA player. As he walked past us to the gate office, Dave and I both caught a good glimpse of him. Hey, I’ve seen that guy in something. He was very striking, and definitely ignoring the nosy onlookers. Somehow Dave came up with the name Delroy Lindo. I’d never heard of him, but I certainly recognized this guy. Again, it just didn’t seem right to walk up to him and say “I know I’ve seen you in movies but who are you?” Or better yet, “So what’s it like to meet Jet Li?” So we let him go in peace, but if he was looking to keep a low profile maybe he should have left his driver and SUV at the gate and taken a donkey like all the other tourists.