Beer with the British Millionaire

While studying abroad in England for a year (from 2006-2007), I did a lot of solo travelling and as mentioned in my first post, I attract strangers. I am a magnet for the eccentric.

I was on a 4 hour train ride from London to a town on the outskirts of Manchester to visit a friend of mine.  I popped open my laptop, ready to begin work on a Philosophy essay for my class.

Out of nowhere, a dashing shiny bald headed man towered over me and boisterously asked "Is it alright if I sit here?" pointing towards a sit directly across from me with a shared table in between us. 


"Yes, have a seat."  

The man was decked out in a flashy full on suit and a leather briefcase.  He was probably around 45, extremely attractive for an older gentleman, and very, very abrasive.

I quickly realized I would not be finishing my essay on the train ride.

For the next few hours this loud man began to show me all the expensive gadgets in his brief case, his shiny laptop, his phones, earpieces, pagers, and told me that he was a millionaire, extremely successful and pretty much the most awesome guy in Britain.

I decided to take advantage of the situation.  "If you've got so much extra cash, why not pay off my student loans for me?  What is 20 grand to you? Consider it your yearly act of benevolence."  Why not try? I figured.

"What's in it for me?" He challenged.

"I'll paint you something on Microsoft Paint and sell it to you for 20 grand."


"Let's see what you got!"  

So I painted what I like to call abstract art on Microsoft Paint.  I still have the file on my hard drive. This was what I offered to him:

Personally, I would buy this for 20 grand if I was a millionaire.  He didn't think it was worth it.  He was picky. He wanted a bloody self-portrait.  "Fine," I said.

So.. I tried to work with my limited art skills and came up with this:

I swear this is exactly what I drew in 2007 and showed to this man in pursuit of 20 grand.  I kept it as a memory of my 4 hour train ride with him.  It was all I could manage to finish.

He did not give me 20 grand for this.

But later on I gave him a tiny Canadian pin.  My grandfather gave me a bag full of cute little Canadian pins to give to people I met overseas and I gave them to anyone strange or interesting that I had formed a connection with.

This millionaire was so touched that I gave him this little pin, that he wanted to give me something in return.  (20 grand? I hoped)..  But no.

He whipped out his wallet and handed me a crisp 50 pound note out of hundreds that were in there.  Now, at the time the conversion rate was about 2.7 Canadian dollars per every pound, so that was like almost $150.  I wanted to accept it, but I felt bad. I  mean, if he legit wanted to write me a cheque for 20 grand, I would have taken it.  But 50 pounds kind of felt like, harder to just "accept" since it wasn't going to really cut it for that "benevolent act of the year" thing.

"No, take it, I have thousands of them!"


"I can't!"


"Well, let's spend it on drinks then for the rest of the train ride!"


"Deal." This, I could handle.  I grabbed the 50 pound note from him and made my way to the train bar and spent every last cent on beers, ciders and vodkas for us to share. 

Needless to say, we both drank a fair bit on the train ride.  The more I drank, the more he talked. The more he talked, the more I drank.


I was scolded for the remaining 3 hours about how to become a millionaire, about how successful and awesome he was, and how I can be as awesome as him.  I was exhausted.  He told me I should be thrilled to have met him and that he enjoys meeting people to give them a chance to meet a guy like him. 

I was grateful for all the alcohol to get me through his 3 hour long lecture as I tried to nap against the window.  The picture to your left is actually a photo of a little mini vodka I saved from that train ride in 2007. It was the last one left that neither of us drank and I took it home as a souvenir.

I figured, a millionaire bought me this little vodka. If I keep it, and rub it every so often, it has to be good luck.  Maybe one day I will be a millionaire too, cause I have a little millionaire vodka.  ;)