A Weird Thought

I am often prone to weird thoughts so having one is not so momentous and anyway most of them just need to stay weird and not wend their way to the written form. You might well say the same about this one. Anyway in order to provide context for this weird thought a little background is required.

I worked with a guy, Brian, whose partner, Jan was, for want of a better description, a clairvoyant. Now I do not normally embrace these sort of things, but she had impeccable references. She was used by the SA Police to find the bodies of missing murder victims. She was a faith healer and had a consultation and treatment room decorated with portraits of her many "guides".

The thing that did it for me though was one Sunday when my wife and I had discussed the possibility of moving from Durban North to Westville to be closer to my office in Pinetown and cut down on my commute. We had never discussed this before, but resolved to go and suss out show houses the following weekend.

That evening I got a call from Brian. He was very apologetic for disturbing us on a Sunday evening, but said that Jan was taking a bath and had called him to contact us urgently and tell us under no circumstances to contemplate moving to Westville.

To say that I was shocked is an understatement. How could she have known? Was our house bugged? Needless to say we shelved that idea immediately and I continued to make the long commute to Pinetown.

Now to set the scene that spawned the weird thought. Last night after supper I took a walk along the Corniche. The weather at the moment in Abu Dhabi as we edge into spring is superb. The days are pleasantly warm and the evenings as pleasantly cool.

I was walking along the boardwalk watching the locals in their traditional dress, the expats in their... er.... uh... um... clobber. Little kids were running around playing with balls. Bigger kids rollerblading. The evening was the epitome of balmy.

I was feeling really calm and at ease in this place so far from home and suddenly the memory of the first time I met Jan popped into my head. It was at a Barbecue over 20 years ago. I remember that we were still on our first drinks when I noticed Jan staring at me. Who could blame her. *insert smiley face here* Then she quietly asked me if the name Ahmed meant anything to me? I replied that it didn't and asked why. She replied that he was my guide. He was standing next to me and had been with me a very, very long time. She said that I was an "old soul".

I must confess that I thought she was a little weird and did not give much credence to what she had told me. I find the concept of a guide who stands beside me over many lifetimes a difficult concept to comprehend. I feel very sorry for someone who has to live through so many boring lifetimes.

It was while in my reverie last night that the thought of having a guide called Ahmed could mean that I may have started my journey here in this area many thousands of years ago and having done so could explain why I have so easily come to live here in the desert.