Gossip

So, I have always known Belfast is small, filled with talkative people and...well.... gossipy as heck.  But today really hit a new low.

As I was in work, a girl I know who is just back from Broadway (yup, the Noo Yoik variety) came in.  Now, I could talk to her at length about the show, the playwright, the partying- all of it.  But could I remember her name?  Not for anything!  (Consequently this is her and this is the play she was in )

Spying the marketing manager talking to a member of the board, I trotted over to quietly ask him what she was called.  As I did so, the board member, who also works in the BBC (where I do freelance radio work) turned round to me.

"Ahh Cat!  I hear you are leaving us?"

"Yep, thats right.  Off to Berlin at the end of next month."

"Flip, well, what will we do without you?  At least we have a few weeks yet, huh?"

"....umm, yep.  Few weeks."

"And you know people out there?  But I suppose you aren't alone, your boyfriend..or is it husband?.... Jonny is going with you too?"

At this point, I must have looked totally weird.  To explain, Jonny is one of my best buds- a local DJ, club promoter, founder of a well known and loved music magazine and general manager of a local venue.  He also will pop into the BBC from time to time... Lovely boy, super dresser and my my, don't the ladies love him!  We do hang out a lot, but I can safely say that Jonny and I are 100% plutonic- I'd take a bullet for him, but I know where he's been so....hmm... in the words of Meatloaf, I would do anything for love, but I won't do that.  (jokes Jonny....but yeah.  Buds for life, innit bro?)

But... back to my stunned confused face.  How did this guy, who sincerely, I've spoken to a handful of times, and who certainly doesn't know anything about me or my life, know about my friend Jonny?  How has the story that I am moving to Berlin (which, y'know, I like to keep the gossipers talking, and I thought that alone was big enough) become remixed into a new life AND a new relationship?  

Confused I asked him, "How do you know about Jonny?"  Wow, way to go for sounding defensive.  Muttering something about one of the presenters I have worked with (who also does not know anything??) I realised I was living the gossip nightmare.  When you realise that in Belfast, people TALK.  And the age old problem people have with girls and boys being friends.  Can't be.  No way.  Someone must fancy the other.  

Ugggggggh.

To be fair though, to get a husband out of it was unexpected.

I did think last week that a part of me will miss knowing people in Belfast, and people recognising me from the telly (embarrassing to admit, but I do like it, its nice to get such happy reactions from strangers). Today made me just relish the thought of anonymity for a while. No gossip, no identity.

Maybe I should be careful what I wish for.  You know what aul Oscar Wilde had to say...

The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.