Today on my trek to work I couldn’t help but smile at the realisation that the world is - please forgive this cliche - small after all.


Yesterday I was standing outside of Wimbledon station waiting for the number 93 bus. I was running really late to work because of delays on the Tube. Needless to say, I was not in a good mood. However, I saw a young man around my age wearing a Boston Red Sox hat and decided to approach him.


The Boston Red Sox are a baseball team with incredibly loyal fans. The year I moved to Boston, 2004, was the year the Sox won the world series. They had been in an 86-year drought, which many believe was the Curse of the Bambino (Babe Ruth). Anyway, there were riots in Boston during the play-offs and after the big win. Mass amounts of people flooded the streets screaming, jumping and setting things on fire in celebration. Hundreds of armed police officers lined the streets and, for the one and only time in my life, I saw a real paddy wagon. It is probably one of the most memorable and also terrifying moments of my life. Regardless, it was exhilarating.


After being in an experience like that, when I see a Red Sox hat I just have to ask if that person is from Boston. After all, Boston is my second home. He was indeed from Boston. He attends University in Syracuse, New York, and is studying abroad on a similar program as me. We ended up riding the bus together and talking about other various topics.


Today a similar instance occurred. Construction forced me off the Tube at Parsons Green. While I was waiting for another Tube into Wimbledon, I stood in the snow and admired it.


A boy passed me wearing a Texas A&M sweatshirt. So I followed him. This was not to be stalkerish, but I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, and half of my friends attend that particular university, so I was curious why some random boy in London at Parsons Green Tube stop happened to be wearing that sweatshirt. He was standing against the wall with headphones in his ears - but I didn’t care how unapproachable he looked - I had to ask.

It turned out he was from Australia! We talked on the Tube until his stop. He’s here on a two-year visa and said he didn’t want to go home. Our conversation was quite interesting.


Maybe there is 6 degrees of separation between everyone. Or at least somehow everyone is connected in some way. Or rather, everyone can relate in some way to each other. It’s odd that sometimes it takes an article of clothing for people to ask questions, discover a conversation and even perhaps realise the interweaving of the world.