doppelgängers.

In work on Friday, around dinner time, the cafe started filling up. It had been quiet all day (like, tumbleweed kind of quiet). In the space of about half an hour though the place was buzzing.

Taking orders, setting tables, scraping dishes – for the next few hours, we were all scurrying about trying to keep on top of everything, trying to make sure all the customers were happy. And then, as always happens, (practically) everyone decided to leave at the same time.

one

(I actually think customers plan this out before they leave their houses. They probably send each other secret messages via some sort of underground ‘customer communication’ system.

‘Right, folks,’ they say to each other, ‘come the stroke of seventeen minutes past eight, we will all ask for our bills, we will all pay our dues, and then, without looking back, we will all vacate the premises, leaving a daunting array of dirty tables behind us!’)

two

We tried to clean up the mess as quickly as possible - stacking teacups, gathering napkins, wiping down tables. While we tidied, two ladies sat sipping their tea and watching us.

‘You’re doing a grand job there,’ one of them said to me while I was tidying up close beside them.

three

♥

Later on, when the place was much tidier and the two ladies were getting up to leave, the other one took my hand and said:

‘I know where your double is in the world.'

‘Oh really?’ I said, expecting her to say that she knew my sister, or my mum from somewhere.

four

‘Yes,’ she said looking me straight in the eye. ‘Munich!’

‘Oh!’ I said.

‘Yes,’ and she raised her eyebrows meaningfully. ‘They say that everyone in the world has a double out there, don’t they? Well, yours is in Munich, and she’s my niece. The two of you... so similar. Beautiful!’

‘Thank-you...’ I said. And she squeezed my hand, then let go of it to button up her coat. And away she went.

five

♥

People are always telling me that I look like other people. Some obvious ones like: 'You look so much like your Mum!' or 'You and your sister must be twins' or (weirdly) 'Your brother and you look exactly the same!' I have also been told by quite a few different people that I look like all of the people dotted around this blog post.

six

In order: 1.) Rapunzel* from Tangled, 2.) Amelie Poulain from Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (this is actually my favourite film, and character-wise I think I am quite similar to her), 3.) the character Alice Cullen from the Twilight series (not a big fan), 4.) Carey Mulligan (...apparently!), 5.) Bonnie from Toy Story 3, and 6.) Katie Holmes.

Funny!

♥

(*oddly enough, my spell-checker didn’t recognise the word ‘Rapunzel’. Obviously my computer is quite uncultured!)