On TV, people meet in grocery stores, getting to know each other in the aisles. Or they meet in dog parks or bars or libraries or browsing in a shop.
I’ve probably only met people in the conventional places like meetings or classes.
But I bet there are some people who have met people in public restrooms or places I would have never thought about.
What’s the most unusual place you’ve met someone you’ve later contacted?
On an internet forum.
I spoke to a guy on-line for about 2 years before meeting him in person for the first time to buy a Tilly lamp. He’s been my best mate for about 12 years now.
I know a girl that ended up marrying her stalker.
Most of my acquaintances have died due to age or illness, so very few left. One I’m still in contact with, I met at a road accident about 40+ yrs ago. There was something about her that intrigued me and we’ve been friends ever since; although my wife soon got to know her and since she moved locally, they often go shopping and to lunch together.
I once met a bloke in Katmandu that I had known well some years earlier in Sydney. He was travelling from Australia to the UK, while I was travelling UK to Australia via the scenic route.
A London Red Bus, on the Number 7 route.
I was 16 when I left home and went to work in London.
I had never been there before and I didn’t know anyone there, so it was all new to me. I made friends with people at work and in the hostel where I lived but they were all acquaintances, rather than close friends.
After I’d been there about 6 months, I got chatting to a girl who sat next to me on the Number 7 bus, which travelled from East Acton to Oxford Street.
I was on my way to work at one end of Oxford Street and she was on her way to college at the other end of Oxford Street,
She was about 18 months older than me but we hit it off straight away, although we had very different backgrounds -
I was a Northern lass from a large and very poor family and dysfunctional household, a bit rough around the edges, who had to leave school at 16 and leave home to earn my way in the world.
She was a cosseted only child from a posh, privileged and comfortably circumstanced family and had been able to stay on at school until she was 18, and was being supported by her parents to study for a further two years at a college of fashion journalism.
We started off just chatting together whenever we saw each other on the bus, on the way to work and college, then began arranging to go places together at weekends, to explore London, visit art galleries, museums, exhibitions etc.
I think we were each fascinated by our different life experiences and wanted to learn from each other, then we found we had a lot of fundamental things in common and became firm friends.
Although we met in London and enjoyed visiting galleries and theatres together, neither of us wanted to settle down in London permanently.
We are both country souls at heart and prefer living in quiet rural areas and spending our leisure time exploring the countryside and supporting our local communities.
We got to know each other quite well for the year or so we were both in London together and spent lots of our leisure time together - but when we each left London to pursue our different careers, our paths diverged and we have never lived near to each other ever since.
We always kept in frequent touch with each other, though, sharing our news and thoughts in long letters.
After we each got married, we went to live in different countries for a while - and when we each returned to U.K., we were living at opposite ends of England - and still do.Throughout all our travels and moves, through all the different stages of our lives, we have kept in touch by regular letters and occasional visits to each other, a couple of times a year - and we have always been there for each other with emotional support and practical help if times got rough,
50 years later, we are still close friends - our regular letters have tailed off a bit and we have switched to long emails and phone calls instead - and we still visit each other a couple of times a year, usually staying for 3 or 4 days, or sometimes we plan a week’s country holiday together to explore another rural part of the U.K.
What a wonderful heartwarming story! Thanks for sharing that. 
At the dentist about 35 years ago.
She was panicking about having her first filling,i told her that she will feel a little prick then her mouth will go numb etc,she and i burst out laughing,and as i knew the dentist very well he asked ME what i had said,then promptly said,okay forget i asked.
I met a young lad on the ferry to the Isle of Wight. We got chatting and soon discovered we both came from the same village. After further chat it became apparent that our parents lived in the same road. Amazing coincidence!
My father went into hospital and the chap in the bed next to him had been a neighbour about 40 years ago.The first thing my father said was “Have you finished with my electric drill?” I didn’t know whether he was joking or not.
Switzerland
Met a guy in a helicopter…we had both attended the same 3 month military course in Catterick, got on well, supped a few beers and after went our wicked ways…fast forward a few years…and I am on the airfield at Khormaksar in the Yemen when I hear the welcome ‘wokka wokka of an incoming Wessex, bloke all tooled up jumps out screaming, ‘ Sleeves down, mount mount!’…
Same guy Rog, a load master with Teeny Weeny Airways (Army Air Corp) quick chat while we flew out to HMS Albion a commando carrier. Never seen or heard from him again.
Met a runner called Terry (Tell) in 1980 while on our first holiday abroad in Mallorca.
We ran together each morning and later visited places together with our wives and daughters.
Didn’t bother exchanging addresses and just went our separate ways.
Fast forward to 1989 and I was running the London Marathon, at 22 miles I became aware of a runner next to me, I turned to see Tell, what a coincidence…
Been to some strange places, but it was only me who seemed interested in future contact, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. 
