I was given a time and a place
I was told to arrive at the time of seven thirty. When I did turn up no one was there – I meandered for a while and past the restaurant a few times. I then followed some people or perhaps I was more aware that they might have felt they were being followed – I was just looking to pass some time by walking in a general direction. I returned around three or four times, re-tracing my tracks or avoiding paths already taken. I hid round a corner with the flashing lights of Ti cuisine in sight, poised, ready to walk at a reasonable pace and ‘arrive’ again fashionably, expectantly and enthusiastically late. They were still not there.
I took the choice of entering the restaurant. I entered in to a dialogue with the waitress. She asked which name I was under for the reservation – I realised I knew none of these people’s names I recall someone called Chris who worked for an organisation in Penzance, he was the one who bestowed upon me the ‘invitation’ and showed me the restaurant around the corner from the networking event where we had just met – he had made me coffee – and we exchanged cards/email addresses.
[ — Before returning to the restaurant for the first time I had taken a walk back to the hotel where I was staying to contemplate the invitation – I phoned my friend Jade to ask her opinion on whether my attending was a good idea or not. Whilst at the hotel I had two conversations with her, one outside next to the shore and one inside the hotel room.
Jade was distracted by the wind channelling down the acoustics of the phone so conversation no.1 was cut short – I had put her on speaker phone so she could listen to the waves on the shore. Conversation no.2 took place in the bath where I made my own waves by copying with my body the landscape outside; it’s inhabitants and the environment: “creativity here undulates and transposes across many-a-place disseminating a holistic hub athwart geographical/traversable locales: they make their own city – their own centrality.” — ]
I stank of complementary travel soap and the waitress could smell it on me for sure.
The restaurant remained empty – still I had no names for the people who were yet to arrive and they had no idea I was waiting for them. All the collected cards and email addresses were left stuffed in my bag. I was too busy having a bath and making conversation with Jade to remember them. The bath overran and I was late. But then I realised I can actually walk pretty fast and arrived ten minutes early. But the other ‘people’ were then half an hour late. So I was always set to be early anyway.
