Are you Chris Flack?

Prologue: 

The story goes a little something like this… Have you heard of a guy called Dave Gorman? Well he wrote a book called ‘Are you Dave Gorman?’. The idea of the book was that after making a bet with his friend he had to go out and met 54 people called Dave Gorman. The book is really funny and has had me in tears of laughter on the tube many times. I was telling a friend about the book and his story when she said you should try and met another Chris Flack.

I naturally said don’t be stupid; I am sure I have better things to do. She then made me an offer I couldn’t refuse (£5 is a lot in a recession). So I got home and straight away tried to figure out a plan to make me some big bucks. I used the best stalking/people locator in the world - Facebook. I must have emailed at least 10 Chris Flack’s. For days their where no replies then bingo. A Chris Flack who just happened to be moving to London soon. Perfect. We organized a time and date and it was all sorted.

So I thought that was that. Until just weeks before we where due to meet up I got another email Chris Flack saying that he had emailed another Chris Flack and Chris Flack was going to join us for the day from Oxford. Perfect two Chris Flack’s for the price off one – it was going to be an interesting day.

The meet up - Mistake number one – I forgot that I had an ornate sense of direction and nativity that always seemed to get me out of trouble. We had organized to meet in Piccadilly Circus as the other Chris Flack’s hadn’t been to London that much and it was an easy place to locate. But as unlike me these Chris Flacks had arrived early and decided to use the time wisely and try to find a close bar. I arrived and rung them. They told they me they where In a very friendly bar in Soho. I started to fear the worse as Soho is infamous for it’s gay bars. It was going to be a very interesting day indeed. 

As I walking towards Soho I started to remember some of the conversations I have been having with my friends during the week… “What do I look like? Will the world explode at this moment? What happens If Chris Flack doesn’t turn up? Can I stand myself up?... I would never let it down.”

I managed to calm myself down and console myself with the thought that I was just about to met two complete strangers in a gay bar in Soho with the same names as me – nothing weird in any of this.

The two other Chris Flacks seemed to have already bonded before I got there. It was a great thing to behold – a strong showing of the Chris Flack trait. We introduced ourselves and then released we had a problem (other than being in a gay bar) we all had the same names. But first thing first we had to relocate to a more approiate bar. 

So back to the naming subject. To make matters easier we couldn’t call each other Chris Flack or Chris Flack1 because who get to be number one – it would just cause way to many arguments. We decide to take more influence form Dave Gorman and do as he would do. By naming each of us after where we were from. So I was Chris Flack New Zealand then there was Chris Flack Oxford and Chris Flack Isle of Man. (Thanks Dave).

The conversation started flowing. (It’s a common Chris Flack trait that we love a good story). I am glad to report that very soon all the Chris Flack where in great flow. There were some amusing, scary and interesting things. Here are some of the highlights:

Nicknames - We started off trading nicknames - Flack, Flackie, Flackinator, Flackster, Flackie the Pake, Then the slightly strange ones like Wapper Flack which is due to the Japanese culture.

The Chris Flack’s

Chris Flack Oxford is... A man who had been drinking with the triads in Hong Kong and somehow got introduced as their bodyguard. One of the funniest things he had done was wear a pink tracksuit in Lilleywhites. Johnny Wilkinson was his next door neighbor and was into medieval weaponry.

Chris Flack Isle of Man is... A man who had just moved to London and was enjoying the London way of life. He liked trim milk and Christina Aguilera and has the same middle name as me (which actually means he is my name twin).

I also asked the hard questions – like who was your favourite superhero (Spiderman and the Punisher) – all in the add of research…

History of Flack - Apparently the Flack name is Scottish and bears a close resemblance to the word Fleck which stands for ‘one who lived where turfs were cut’. We talked about famous Flack and all we got was three – Roberta Flack, a character called Robert Flack on CSI New York and Captain Flack from Trumpton.

Finding yourself in London -Some people come to London to make money, some to see the Queen or ride on the London Eye – I decided to come to London to find myself. Yes I know it seems like a stupid idea but I have been told London is the land of opportunities and the streets are paved with money and gold not cigarettes and sweat.

I learnt important life questions about myself. I urge everyone else, as Dave Gorman did to find themselves in London. It’s not that hard - you just have to know where to look.

(To read about the 2010 -  2nd Annual Chris Flack meet up click here.)