Old and new friends
Another very busy week, hence my absence.
Did anybody notice?
Anyhows one of those bits of business was a trip to the village. Actually there were two trips to the village but that’s beside the point. On the trip in question, I called into the coffee shop. A bloke I had never seen before called out a loud “Howya Penny!” or words to that effect.
Now there is no point in mentioning said bloke’s name as none, if any of you will have heard of him. He is, apparently, an avid reader of this here site for several years though he has never commented in the past [unless he used a pseudonym which I suppose is possible?].
Now this brings to the fore one of the very strange phenomena of scribbling, where people read words on a screen but rarely if ever meet. I have only met a small handful of fellow scribblers but am familiar with many. Over time you get to know the person behind the keyboard but they still remain ephemeral spirits floating in the cyberworld. So here is this bloke who knows a hell of a lot about me but I knew very little about him, apart from a brief [electronic] introduction from Dick Puddlecote and a video from Simon Clark.
So we sat in the sun enjoying our coffees while I puffed my pipe and Penny went to sleep, like two old friends, except it was a strange case of an old friendship and a new one. Weird but very pleasant.
In the meantime, my business continues.
I have an appointment in the Beacon Clinic up in Dublin and I’m already late.
I know for a fact that I am going to get lost on the place, It’s inevitable.
So if any of you are in the Beacon Hotel/Apartments/Clinic/Hospital this afternoon/evening/night and you see an auld fella with a beard looking somewhat bewildered, can you show me the way out?
Please?
Update: I’m home again [but a bit knackered]. I came up with the obvious solution to the Beacon Maze. I am surprised no one had the intelligence to suggest it? I knew the way to the rooms I was aiming for so I simply walked in backwards, thereby memorising my escape exit route.
It’s called lateral thinking.
People are meeting up on Frank Davis’ Smoky Drinky Bar. Some of us have also met up in real life for a coffee / beer or two / twelve
Wasn’t I in on the start of the Smokey Drinkey! Frank, Nisakiman and myself spoke a few times there while Frank was setting it up. It tends to be an evening thing though and I am rarely in a position to log in then.
The problem for me is that most of my readers [two thirds] are in the UK whereas only one in twenty are from Ireland. The problem is compounded by my lack of mobility so I am more or less confined to the Wicklow area. No one around here wants to know me.
Yeah, it is pretty much an evening thing, particularly weekends when we’re all pissed
I can’t imagine a time when I would be in Wicklow, but if it happens, I’ll buy you a coffee
Couldn’t you have left a trail of crumbs or taken a spool of thread to find your way out of the Beacon? It works in story books!
Once upon a time, in another life entirely, while working at an Aerospace company, a new hire came into the office. He looked my way and said, “Hey Kirk! Long time no see!” I responded, “Hey Bill! Good to see you! What the hell are you doing here?”and so on and so forth. We ended up working together for over two years before I left the company and in all that time Bill and I could never figure out where we actually knew each from except that we knew each other pretty well…wherever it was. To this day I still can’t figure out why or where I knew the guy in the first place.
And next time you go to the Beacon Clinic just take a couple of cans of spray paint to mark your way. That should take care of things nicely.
A less permanent trick would be to go with a pad of Post-it notes, each bearing the pre-printed message “Do Not Remove”, depositing these at all key points along the way. Most brain-dead, box-ticking clinic staff would not dream of disregarding such a bold instruction, so the notes will still be there for the return journey – indeed, they may still be there six months later for any follow-up visit.
Better than paint I suppose and less of a chance to get in trouble? Yup, better suggestion. He just has to look official when he does it. Probably carry a clipboard with a few papers clipped to it just for look of the thing.
My solution was much more elegant. See the update above. 😀
Ah, I see. Smart! But it sounds more like reverse lateral thinking to me.