Seating Plans with Tristan

After ages of planning, the Magdalene dinner is right around the corner, happening this Friday. We finally got the final seating plan from the club, and after Doro begged off claiming an oncoming cold, Tristan and I decided to save time by meeting in our neighbourhood by getting together at the Dove, a pub along the Thames that's halfway between the two of us.

I had to finish off a conference call before I was able to escape the house to get to the pub. Which meant that when I arrived, Tristan was already in a corner with a pint. I'd been to the Dove many times before in the summer, but it was only now, arriving in the fall, to find a super-cozy pub with a fire roaring at one of the room, that I realised I'd missed the Dove at its best.

Tristan was already there with a drink, so I grabbed a pint of Guinness, and we set about writing all of the guests names on Post-It notes, and then used a nearby table to start arranging all of the pieces. (This was a lesson learned last year, that it's much easier to do seating plans when you have Post-It notes that you can easily move around and re-arrange). Sometimes it seems like quite a bother to do seating plans, but I absolutely abhor events with open seating. It never really works out well, so the hassle of seating plans is entirely necessary.

It took us about an hour-and-a-half of arranging and re-arranging, but finally we got it all worked out. Tristan mentioned that one of his flatmates might come along at the last minute, which definitely peaked my interest. I know that JG has some family event going on, so there was no way he could make it, which meant that the open possibility was Tristan's New Flatmate (who I had met for the first time at Sophie and Ian's wedding last month). Now admittedly Tristan's New Flatmate had shown absolutely no interest in me at that time, but I'd hoped to see him again and perhaps correct his impression of me.

Finally however, we finished our drinks and got the seating plan sorted, and so walked out of the pub along the Thames (it was a gorgeous fall night, crisp yet warm), until finally giving each other a kiss on each cheek by the Hammersmith Bridge, and then walking home. Nice little escape from my flat for a Monday night out. Now just looking forward to the dinner on Friday!

Meet at the Dove. It's very cozy and nice. Takes us 1.5 hours to pull it all together.