OddThinking

I was reminded of an old incident recently.

I was walking back to my accommodation after a long day at a festival in the south of France. In a quiet back-street of a university, I saw an Italian couple who I had met, very briefly, earlier that night.

I can’t remember the exact words, but I said “Hello, again” and the guy immediately got very defensive, “Do you have a problem with us?” he demanded.

“Uh, no, not at all! We met in the beer tent. I saw you playing the guitar. You are very good.”

He relaxed immediately, and we had a brief chat. “Where are you from?” he asked. When I said “Australia”, I was amazed by the happy reaction. “Australia! Australia!” the guy cried, and came up close and shook my hand vigourously! “Australia? Good for you!” said the woman, circling me with glee, patting me on the back and tugging at my t-shirt.

They were clearly big fans of Australia! We parted ways, me with a smile on my face at the funny little interaction we had had – initially suspicious, but joyful at the end.

I had walked on for another five minutes before I realised the truth…

The in-your-face vigorous handshake? The technique was familiar to me; I have used a similar methods to distract people while performing sleight-of-hand magic.

The back-patting and t-shirt tugging? That would have exposed access to my back pockets.

I had just been done over by a co-ordinated team of pickpockets!

Fortunately for me, I had nothing in my back pockets. My wallet was safe in a zipped-up, hidden, front pocket. Nothing was stolen.

Still, I wasn’t smiling any more.