My new mates

I've met plenty of famous people in the past. Peter Beale off of Eastenders. Raef off of the Apprentice. Sue Atkins off of Channel 4 (potentially!). Normally I handle it all well, cooly with no problems. I just wander up, shake their hand and ask for an autograph / picture / when dinner will be ready. No biggie.

But last night, I was coming out of the bar having bought a drink to the outside bit of this pub. I was chatting to Kate (off of the earlier blog), when I spotted someone I recognised. I immediately fell apart, and started babbling. "Oh my god, that's England". "What?" said Kate. "Cricket. England. Them. There" (as well as other incomprehensible words) said me. "What?" repeated Kate.

I didn't know what to do. Sitting in the same bar as me were Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood, and Jonathan Trott. Three men I'd call Ashes winning heroes. Leaving the confused Kate still wondering what had happened to me, I put my drink down, and wandered over to them. This was my first mistake.

Because everything had happened so quickly, I hadn't worked out a plan. Had I thought about it, I would have come up with some witty opening gambit, which would have got me in an underway. As it was, I walked up to Jonathan Trott with my hand outstretched, and said "I'm so starstruck". Brilliant.

Trott, who was on Facebook on his iPhone look confused and went "Oh, right". Good. Paul Collingwood, (who on the back of this moment is now my favourite ever person) realised my nerves, and warmly shook my hand, smiled and said something which I don't remember but just seemed right. After also shaking hands with Strauss (who just seemed pleased to be recognised) I shakily passed my camera to a nearby passerby, and posed for a picture. After mumbling some sort of thanks about the picture, apologising for taking up their time, and wishing them good luck for random events in the future ("good luck for Friday, and the rest of the series. And for the World Cup. And for the test series in the summer). I wandered away, completely in a daze, and sat down with everyone else.

Everyone has stories of when they meet their heroes. In their own heads it will go great, with phone numbers being swapped, and free tickets given out. But these things don't often go the way it's planned. (After I composed myself enough to resume a conversation, Kate said a similar thing had happened when she met Linkin Park). While I didn't make a total fool of myself, it probably didn't go the way I planned. But whatever. I met, and got handshakes off Trott, Collingwood and Strauss. And I don't really care how it happened. Here's the proof.