I had an in-person meeting today, so I came into the office, but was surprised to find a man sitting at the desk I had reserved. Remembering how my friends had admonished me previously for not insisting on having the desk that I'd reserved (and also because I had no idea where else to sit), I gently informed the guy that he was in my seat. He then insisted that he'd reserved that desk, only to realise after he checked that he'd reserved a desk in the red section, but was seated in the yellow section. He asked if I'd be willing to sit in the desk that he was supposed to be sitting in, which was fine with me, I just needed a desk! So he showed me where the other desk was, and so I finally got to sit down and settle in. So you can imagine my annoyance then after all of that trouble and effort, to find that the meeting had been cancelled, just half an hour before it was due to begin!
Still, as I was pondering my annoyance over this fact, I spotted a familiar looking head of grey hair sitting two rows of desks in front of me. So I grabbed him on IM and asked, "Princess, turn around. Is that you?"
When he did, it turned out that indeed, it was! (Apparently he has a very recognizeable back of the head. Who knew?) So that at least made coming into the office worthwhile, to have the treat of seeing Princess.
Therefore at the end of the day when it was time to leave to go running, I left with him, to have company to talk with on the journey. We actually had an interesting discussion about what it's like to run when you are fit, the way it is for him, rather than it being the exercise in torture when you are trying to get fit, like it is for me. Kind of an interesting concept, and the only thing I could really relate it to was polo/riding, which is torture when your muscles aren't in shape, but is such a pleasure that I don't even notice the exertion in my muscles until after I've been doing it for several hours. Perhaps that's what it's like to be fit when you run...
We got to the pub (which was much further from King's Cross than I had remembered!), which was wonderfully warm after coming in from the cold. Keep in mind, it was officially below freezing out, and just ridiculously cold out there. Due to the cold temps, I decided to keep my fleece on for the run, which turned out to be a wise move.
I kept up pretty well for the duration of most of the run, until the trail crossed Gray's Inn Road, the street that the pub was on. I thought to myself, "I'm not stupid!", and instead of following the crowds, just went back down the street to the pub.
I got back to the pub just as those who were injured and manning the drinks stop were about to head out, so I went out with Claire (who had also returned early) and a few others for that. It was kind of a strange drinks stop, as they had a small keg of Heineken, but no cups, so everyone just had to drink straight from the keg! Needless to say, I declined to participate...
Claire and I then ran back to the pub, where we had some mulled wine and minced pies. Matt also came by, as his girlfriend has now returned to the US, and so as he said, "While the cat's away, the mice will play!" Not that Matt would "play" in any sort of devious sense, but I think instead just is enjoying the opportunity to go out and have a few beers with his boys without worrying about leaving his girlfriend at home by herself. So it was a delightful treat to see him.
At the circle, Kitty then told a story about how "Tiger Woods has been dropped as the official spokesperson for Accenture, and we can't help but wonder if it was some scandal with an Accenture employee that started it all. I mean, they say that he's up to 14 ladies by now, so of course that makes you wonder about the First Lady, now doesn't it?" The whole thing was just such a clever play on words, I had to laugh, and cheerfully accept my down-down.
After that, I mainly became involved in conversation with Matt, Mike and Cookie (who I finally insisted on buying a drink, since I owe her about 15!), although we did get into a strange side conversation with Pork Pie about the bizarre fetishes of some of his friends. Although I'd met the friends he named, I did have fun with Cookie teasing him that these were all stories about his "friends", and nothing to do with him!
Finally when Matt and Cookie were leaving, we all walked back to Chancery Lane together, where we had an interesting conversation about biological clocks, having kids, and long-distance relationships. Basically, none of us really wants to have kids any time soon, but as Cookie and I pointed out, for Matt that is no problem, as although he is 30, his girlfriend is only 22. It doesn't work out quite so well for me and Cookie, as she's in a long-distance relationship with a guy who is younger than she is, and I've already hit 30 and am still single, how much time do I realistically have? I would wait until I was 40 if I could actually be guaranteed of being able to have kids at that age, but who really knows? Cookie as well just kept voicing her frustrations about being in a long-distance relationship with a man where there's no real end in sight. After a certain point I think you have to wonder if marriage is in the cards, and if it is, what it would look like. How would you have kids if you were still in a long-distance relationship? I really get the sense that Cookie honestly likes her boyfriend, but the times that he leaves her on her own are really proving to be intolerable...
In the end, although it was a bitterly cold night, I'm glad I came out for the run, as it was such a good time with friends in the end!
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