The Young Dutchman had advised me that he was going to be in London this Friday, and suggested we might meet up. I was feeling somewhat obliged to go this "Girl's Dinner" with some of the girls in my running club that evening, even though I generally hate the thought of a "girl's dinner". They are always so dull, and I am growing generally dissatisfied with the level of conversation among my female friends lately.
Still, not wanting to miss the Young Dutchman, we agreed to meet beforehand, and so when he called to say he would meet me at the club in a bit, I decided to make a pre-emptive move to Green Park.
My timing was nearly perfect, as with both of us walking, we arrived at the front of the Lansdowne at almost exactly the same time. At which point he dropped off his bag, and then we both walked to Soho. It was good to have the walk to talk, just catching up on this and that, even as I had no idea where we were going. I filled him in on the fact that as I'd been walking to the club, I'd had quite a few guys say as I walked past little things like, "Hey baby, how you doing tonight?" and just other random comments indicating that I was looking nice. Or like a prostitute? Sometimes you start to wonder, what makes random men talk to women in the street like that? He seemed amused by this. But mostly, it was just fun to talk to him, as all of a sudden I was hit by how much I really do miss him now that he's in Oxford.
We arrived at a crowded restaurant, where amazingly we found some free chairs and joined Kellogg Boy and another guy from his program who I've met before, and they all just spent their entire time bitching about Oxford and how much work it was. I was laughing at them, because it's like people forget in the midst of all of the rowing and bops and exchange dinners....it's actually a lot of work! And having been through it and survived it, I know they will too, but they're really in the depths of the despair at this point. Right now life is just work and study and collapsing under the crushing weight of knowing that there is always more reading or revising to be done. I find it funny how people forget that there's a reason you have to be pretty smart to go to Oxbridge...
I was enjoying talking to the boys so much, that I kept delaying and delaying and delaying my required departure time for this "girl's dinner", texting the hostess to inform her that I was running late and just continually talking to the boys until I realised I was going to be over an hour late to dinner. So as much as I hated to do it, I had to go (and felt it probably was good to give the boys some time to catch up on their own too).
When I arrived out of the Tube station in Kilburn Park, I saw that I had just missed a call from the Tall South African and a text that read, "Since when do guys have wardrobe malfunctions??!!!" So I called him back (even as it was going to make me even later than I already was). Turns out that Lotte had invited him down to London, and so he was still up at his place, trying to figure out what to wear. We debated various outfit combinations for a bit, something appropriate for dinner in Chelsea and going out later. I was a bit disappointed to be missing him, but of course this was the usual thing of "he doesn't make plans in advance and then I already have plans" problem. He wanted me to come out, but what was I supposed to do? Abandon my girlfriends, right then when I'd already texted the hostess a million times to assure her I was coming? Argh, this boy kills me. At last though, I had to let him go with promises that I would call him later to see where he was at (that so very vague "maybe we'll meet up" promise), so I could stop chatting in the entryway of a Tube station and go to my dinner party.
My dinner turned out to be totally boring and dull, as these girls really seemed to have nothing to talk about other than how their siblings annoyed them or every last painstaking detail of how they met their boyfriend. Seriously, it was just non-stop relationship talk and family dramas, which one can feign interest in for only so long. After talking about ideas and concepts and thesis topics with the Young Dutchman, gossiping about people I didn't even know was hideously boring. I'd sort of feared this evening, but even I was surprised at how insanely dull the conversation was. In retrospect, I definitely should have skipped, or at least stayed longer with the Young Dutchman!
I kept looking for excuses to leave, but really found myself stuck for quite a bit, until I was able to head home at 11:30. I texted the Tall South African, but there was no hope for it, he was already out in a nightclub somewhere. Such a pity, but I suppose I should have known it would turn out this way! Lesson learned, next time skip the Girl's Dinner!
No comments:
Post a Comment