There’s been a couple of instances over the years. I was once in a clothes shop and waiting to make a purchase. As I approached the counter the sales assistance greeted me with the biggest smile and warm hello. I thought how pleasant it was of her to greet customers in such a bubbly, positive way, almost like a long lost friend. Then I realised she thought I was somebody else, somebody she’d once seen regularly but hadn’t for a while. She realised I was looking puzzled at some of the things she said and eventually reacted with, “You are Julie [or whatever name it was - I can’t recall] aren’t you?” I told her I wasn’t, she looked embarrassed so I said something jokey about having a double to try and make her feel better.
Another instance was several years later and didn’t happen to me but to one of my husband‘s friends who told me about it afterwards. He’s a policeman and was in uniform in our local library when he thought he saw me. He approached who he was convinced was me, asked how things were and began making smalltalk. It soon became obvious this woman wasn’t me and he had to make his apologies. He says she was my spitting image. I can just imagine this woman feeling very confused as to why a police officer had approached her in this way!
Several people have remarked on my dad’s likeness to Anthony Hopkins, I think he has a passing resemblance though my dad is a good ten years younger and English not Welsh. A few years back he was on a cruise and an American couple tentatively approached him, convinced he was the Welsh actor. He told them he wasn’t but they wouldn’t believe him and thought he was just denying it as he was on holiday and didn’t want to be bothered. He told them several times he wasn’t Anthony Hopkins but they wouldn't have it and ended the conversation with, “Don’t worry we won’t spread it around that you are on the cruise, we understand you not wanting to be approached by people when you’re on vacation.”
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