Chatting with a stranger

There I was on the early train from Melbourne, knitting wollen squares for a charity to pass the time. An old man, quite spruce in his beret, suit jacket and tie looked across and smiled. I smiled back and he came over and said, with tears in his eyes "I was just reminded of my old grandmother, she could knit like you, without looking".. one thing led to another and we chatted all the way to Castlemaine. He was 87, a Hungarian refugee (with a "rabbit passport" - you dig under the fence). He was on his way to Robinvale (about a six hour trip) to "help an old lady with some cleaning up - she's too old to do it herself. She's not a girlfriend, and I don't have a boyfriend either, I'm straight"
As we chatted his life story unfurled. Youngest of 4, his older siblings all went to university but he had to stay home and help run the family hotel (120 beds). However, he loved to sing and eventually forged a musical career, sang with Sinatra and Dean Martin in Europe. Went to the Korean War and served 2 years, then was required to serve in Siberia. was a 2-star general, but finally escaped from Hungary and got to Australia. Raised 4 children, one is a movie star (I checked google and there she was, she was in "Mad Max" and "Terminator"), another a professor of music in Brisbane. He dug an old cassette out of his bag, the handsome young man on the front was him with his first wife ("40 years old and it still plays"), he and his female friend in Robinvale were going to listen to it when he got there.
An amazing life...
and I am pleased I heard it.