Traveller's Club Talk

I suppose I should have had an indication of what the evening would be like from how it started. I was a bit late leaving my flat, but I really booked it down to the train station, and as I arrived at the station, the train was still there! So I put on a last burst of speed, and just as I had almost reached the door to the last train, it closed on me. I mean literally, I had my hand in the open doorway, but not enough of my body to actually throw myself into the train. It was heart-breaking, to be so close and have the train pull out of the station without me!

I debated walking to another station, but saw that in just 10 minutes another train was supposed to arrive. Yet, 10 minutes later, when the train was supposed to arrive, a notice suddenly came up that it was delayed by another 10 minutes, so in total I had to wait for over 20 minutes for the next train! In retrospect, I totally should have started walking to the next station, a mere 7 minutes away...

Hence, after all of these delays, I completely missed the half-hour cocktail reception at the Traveller's Club, and only dashed into the club right at 7 PM, when the talk was due to begin. So no time to circulate, just said a few hellos and found myself walking with everyone upstairs to the library for the talk.

As I made my way up the stairs, I realised I'd made a huge error in terms of my footwear, as I'd decided to wear these impossibly high heels, running in flats all of the way to the club and then changing into the sexy shoes once I got there. Alas, the heels were so high that I found I could barely walk in them! (Didn't help that in an attempt to keep them from pinching my toes, I'd gotten them in a size slightly large, and I was therefore doing an imitation of a child wearing her mother's shoes, shuffling about in an attempt to keep them from falling off of my feet!)

The talk itself was actually quite interesting, as the speaker was this old chap who had obviously lived quite a life of adventure, and just had a good time telling us all of his stories. Made me think that this is what those old "explorer societies" must have been like, just people getting together and telling tales of their travels.

He spoke for about an hour, and then we made our way into dinner, which was actually served in the club's main dining room, where all of the usual club members were dining as per usual, and we were just allocated a few random tables amidst the room. As well, people seemed to be taking ages to make their way in to dinner, so I sat with Super Social Scottish Guy while I waited for the rest of the guests at my table to arrive, rather than sit alone. Super-Social Scottish Guy was as polite as always, but in this instance seemed a bit more interested in the girl sitting to his left. Not sure what was going on there, but I was intrigued. Super-Social Scottish guy is a nice guy (despite his fondness for Sarah Palin), so I do hope that he can find a nice girl...

Finally the rest of my dining companions arrived, so I made my way over to the table, where there was no seating plan, so I found myself inbetween a young girl who had just graduated from university and a slightly socially awkward-yet-sweet girl I already know. I accidentally found myself seated at the head of the table, which was perhaps a poor move, as of course then I felt the need to entertain the table with funny stories and get everyone laughing their heads off. Ah yes, it's all about me, me, me, me!!

As dinner progressed, I managed to relinquish control of the conversation and it turned to the young recent university grad and another chap sitting at our table, as they talked about travelling and living in Shanghai. Rather interesting actually, although I do feel that I failed a bit in asking interesting questions, as when I'm not the focus of conversation I do struggle. Must work on that one.

Alas, letting the chap at the table talk so much turned out to be a poor move, as he took so long to finish his main meal that the staff (appropriately) did not clear our plates while waiting for him to finish. It was when the table sitting near us got up and left, having already finished their dessert (and we were still waiting for this chap to finish the main course) that we realised we were far behind schedule!!

At last we managed to cajole him along into finishing up, and then we made our way downstairs for coffee. Once again, somehow failed to properly circulate, and people were dropping like flies to head home quickly. At around 9:30 PM, G departed with a group to head over to the O&C, and I said I would follow shortly, but of course just stayed talking to others and never did make it to the O&C. As it was, the rest of us headed home by 10:30 PM, a very early night considering it was an Inter-Club event!