After a long day running around the office doing interviews, meeting with people, and acting all corporate in my fancy suit, it was finally time to go for a run. Yet, in continuing the usual pattern where I have more to do now that I don't have a job than I did when I did, I was unable to escape the office until 6:40 PM, which is normally when I like to be arriving at the pub for the run.
So I entirely didn't expect that I would arrive at the run on time, and was quite startled when I made all of my trains, and it looked like I might actually make it. And then as I was finally exiting the station, just rushing with my head down and trudging along, I got the weird sensation of somebody being inappropriately close to me and falling into step with me. I was starting to think, "Who is this weirdo?" only to look up and see that it was my friend Matt!!!
You know those rare people, who every time you see them it's an absolute treat? Whose conversation you always enjoy, who you can talk to for hours, who are your solid friends through and through? Yeah, that's Matt. He's the ultimate "good guy", sweetly devoted to his girlfriend, genuinely nice, and always a guy who has time for me. Hence to realise that he was the "weirdo" who was messing with me was quite alright!!
He laughed at my delayed reaction to him walking in step with me, we hugged and I had to restrain myself from wagging my tail like an over-excited puppy dog upon seeing him.
Made it to the pub just as the run was setting off, so I ran inside to dump my gear and strip off the ill-advised second sports bra that I'd been wearing. (I'd heard about this idea of wearing two sports bras to give you more support, but even on the short trip to the pub I realised it was severely inhibiting my ability to breathe!) Started running, fell into step with Matt, and jogged away. I was impressed that I actually managed to keep pace with Matt, but after the second check I was struggling!
The run was unfortunately quick and I lost the group about halfway through, but luckily I knew the neighbourhood well enough to make my way back to the pub without too many problems. Got myself a lime and soda water at the bar, and was delighted to discover it was one of the cheapest non-alcoholic drinks I've had almost anywhere in London, at just 50 pence.
Matt then offered to buy me a drink, although when I requested another lime-and-soda-water, gave me such a look that I agreed to go for beer. With our beers, we were totally misanthropic and spent most of the evening talking just to each other, about our jobs, looking for new ones, and just getting older and moving on in general. The social hostess in me occasionally felt bad about not doing my usual social-butterfly thing, but when there's really only one person you want to talk to, why circulate? I bought our second round and we kept talking, just being annoyingly anti-social.
Finally at the end of the evening I was snagged by Princess, who told me that maybe, perhaps, I just might, if the postage had been calculated correctly, be getting a postcard from Berlin. So sweet of him! So I gave him a quick kiss (yuck, tasted of the whiskey shot he'd just been forced to do!) and thanked him for writing, whether I eventually got the postcard or not. With all of the job madness, it's always lovely to know people are thinking of me. What a wonderful boy he is.
Headed home with Matt at the end of the evening, just rambling about random stuff, talking about nothing of significance, but having thoroughly enjoyed such a fabulous evening with such wonderful friends. Sometimes they are just what you need.
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