Stuff happens in London

It was a beautiful day. Jao hadn't seen the Regent's Park. She saw it, loved it and we started heading back home. Somewhere near the Euston Square a guy approached us. I was already getting ready with one of my apologetic smiles from the series "No, thank you", thinking he was another fun fundraiser, when his "Excuse me, I'm just back from Iraq" stopped me on the spot...
Hmm, Iraq, this could be interesting. I'd had saloon reps approaching me, Cancer UK, save women in Iran, but Iraq, no. I was slowly (I can't really do things fast) shifting my brain cells to stop the "No, thank you" smile, and put on a sophisticated face to discuss Iraq, when his next remark made me frantically speed up the shifting, and I mean reaaally speed up: "Hey, you see, I'm just back from Iraq. Couple of hours ago, I came back couple of hours ago and ... those are my friends over there and... Can I kiss you?"

Jao hops a meter  away with "Kiss her", and pushes me towards the guy.

I'm ... I'm just standing there and smiling.

- May I?

I have to say something, right? And I do: "OK, if you promise it's a quick one". "A quick one"... What the hell? He laughs and kisses me. He smiles: "Thank you!", and goes away. I smile and go away with Jao laughing hysterically, and me, well, me feeling the warmth of the stranger's lips.

***

There are days I just love jogging: it starts with heaving and awkward muscles and ends up with your breath pacing evenly with every muscle movement in a perfect rhythm. Your body is this incredible orchestra and as a conductor you just make sure each musician plays what they should. That simple. It does happen. Rarely, but when it does, you can't keep smiling.

So, it was one of those days. I'm almost there. Five more minutes and I need to slow down the pace, break into a quick walk and reach the gate. But I'm still high with the perfection of the movement. I am to make this u-turn, when I see a guy walking across the street towards me. He has this swagger, this bouncy walk that makes me smile even more. When I'm to pass him by, he throws his arms wide open in an attempt to hug me, smiles even wider then me and goes: "I've seen them do this in the movies!"