A Funny Thing Happened To Me On My Way Here!

   Last Friday, being Feb10th, funnily enough turned out to be something of a Prisoner day for me. I was perusing the stalls of the local antique and bic-a-brac market, when one stall holder said “Ah the man in the top hat,” well I was actually wearing a top hat at the time. The stall holder went on to ask me if I was still working or had retired. I said both, I’m a self-employed writer. I was then asked what do I write? I wanted to just say fiction, but I said I write about ‘the Prisoner.’ He queried this and I said ‘the Prisoner’ Patrick McGoohan. Then it clicked, and there was a chap standing at the stall, and he smiled. I know ‘the Prisoner’ he said, and I’ve seen the second series, have it on DVD, and that was that! With the other gentleman, who was also a fan of ‘the Prisoner’ joining in, we spent half an hour talking in general terms about ‘the Prisoner’ and of course Patrick McGoohan, his school days, and of his role as Red in ‘Hell Drivers.’ And of course the old debate raised its head, about whether or not Number 6 was John Drake, they wanted my opinion. The general consensus between the three of us being that he is! They asked me if the Prisoner escaped in the end, and again the consensus between us was that he didn’t, that ‘the Prisoner’ began all over again. Then the discussion turned to Patrick Cargill, and the fact that he starred in another television series ‘Father Dear Father.’ They said you look like him you know. I said Patrick Cargill? Yes they said. Well I said I’ve been taken for Patrick McGoohan in my time, but never Patrick Cargill! And so the discussion continued, and would have continued a whole lot longer had my wife not come along and said we should be going as we had shopping to do. Just as well I suppose, otherwise I’d have probably been still standing there an hour or more later, the three of us still discussing ‘the Prisoner.’ So I had to go, the three of us parting with The Village salute “Be seeing you.”
   It just goes to show that you never know who is a fan of ‘the Prisoner,’ they are everywhere. I certainly didn’t expect such an encounter when I left the house that morning. Yet I should have known. Well it was Feb 10^th! 

Be seeing you