If you've been following this blog you may remember my encounter with my distant relative Jack Carroll from Chicago back in August 2009 at the Palms Krystal Bar in Port Huron Michigan. I say 'distant relative' because we both have the same last name so somewhere there must be a connection. We met Jack and his wife Marian at the Palms Krystal while they were there on Chicken-in-the-Rough business with bar owner/franchisee Russ Schultz and his wife Martha. We have barely kept in touch with Jack over the years by e-mail and we wondered if we'd meet again some day.
Surprise! As I mentioned in my August 9 post a couple of months ago, Jack called Wendy and me at the condo and said he was setting up a new Chicken-in-the-Rough at The Bungalow Neighbourhood Hub on Waterloo Street in North London. He said he and his wife Marian would be coming soon and it would be great if we could renew old aquaintances. He mailed some vouchers for free chicken dinners at The Palms Krystal in Port Huron and at Murphy's Chicken-in-the-Rough in Sarnia both of which we have yet to use.
It is an unusual friendship in that we have only met face to face for a few minutes, three years ago, and yet have maintained some email and telephone communications. Wendy and I have since had lunch several times at the Palms Krystal and have, on occasion, talked with Russ Schultz at the bar, but he sees hundreds of people in his work and I wouldn't think he would remember us.
The story continues...
The other day Jack emailed me from Chicago and said he was driving to London on the 28th of October. Russ and Martha Schultz were also coming to London to meet with the owner, Scot Crawford of the new Chicken-in-the-Rough at the Bungalow Restaurant on Waterloo Street in North London. Jack wondered if Wendy and I would join everybody for dinner.
I responded that since they were here on business, it would be inappropriate for us to crash the party but Jack insisted. Here's Jack's response:
"From the bottom of our hearts, we truly hope we will see you Sunday, if possible. We would love to have you and Wendy as our guests."
So.. It would appear that in a couple weeks, Wendy and I will be having dinner with Jack and Marian, Russ and Martha, and Scot and Rosemary Crawford. Click this link to read about Scott Crawford and the Bungalow Neighbourhood Hub Restaurant. It's an interesting story about how Mr. Crawford used to work for Mike Smith a very well known London restauranteur. The dinner should be very interesting. I hope they are serving Chicken in the Rough by then. It really is great tasting chicken!
I guess the bottom line is... Hey, I need all the friends I can get. I'll update this in a future post. Stay tuned.
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