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On a scale of childbirth, I think today started out as siamese twins arriving sideways. This evening was a neat and tidy caesarian, with full anaesthetic in a private ward.

I had a meeting at half ten. It should have been eleven, but I’d rearranged it forward so I could get back to the office sooner. I got to the station with 90 minutes to spare and found the platforms devoid of trains - a condition with which they’d be afflicted for at least the next hour.

So, I got back in the car and drove.

Then drove and drove and eventually met up with all the other traffic coming out of Chelmsford in search of a train. We all bunched up in a quite cosy manner and, for the next hour sat in long queues of traffic, staring in at each other through our tightly shut electric windows.

The air in my car was variously filled with the tones of Melvyn Bragg giving discourse on the basis of modern mathematics and somewhat less educated words coming out of my mouth as I swore at the traffic, the lights, the stupid woman in the car in front of me, the bus, the lorry, the squashed hedgehog, the ticking clock, the ringing phone… everything, pretty much.

I ended up doing an enormous loop back to Ingatestone - one station down the line from where I started, arriving two hours after I’d set off, at 11am.

The next train came along 31 minutes later, and I arrived in the office at half twelve, fuming. I’m sure I didn’t hide it very well, either.

Anyhow, I rearranged the meeting for half three, fortunately, so plugged in the music and whiled away the intervening hours with proofs.

Tonight was the perfect antidote: dinner and drinks with Kathryn, Mark and Ems, in Alphabet Bar and then Wagamama, where the wireless network in Microsoft’s office a street away spills over and floods the room (even though it’s underground). It’s password protected, of course, and none of the obvious guesses work (Redmond, Windows etc), but it’s interesting to see just how far it seems to be straying.

Anyhow, we ate our curries and noodles and nattered away for a fair few hours, catching up on all the things we’ve missed. It feels like ages since we’ve all seen each other.

We promised to get together for a white trash weekend in Southend later in the summer, and Budapest cropped up more than once, which would be nice if it came off, but is by no means a cert. Eventually, though, things somehow degenerated into the kind of conversation you shouldn’t be having at a table you have to share with people you don’t know. We’d finished eating, but I’m not so sure the people beside us were entirely comfortable.

We decided, at that point, to call it a day, and headed off to our respective stations. My car was stuck out in the back of nowheresville, which meant a change of trains and a 20 minute stand around at Shenfield. It was worth it for the night out, though. I could just have done without the hassle first thing.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2004 at 11:39 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.