Table for one

The clock just ticked past 10:30 on Sunday morning. You find me perched at a small table in Wetherspoons, having just made a cooked breakfast disappear. I’m surrounded by families and groups of friends – coming and going – eating breakfasts, catching up with one another, and filling the pub with conversation and laughter.

It’s a strange thing – escaping from a house filled with mayhem and noise to a pub filled with further mayhem and noise.

There’s an odd problem with sitting in a pub on your own – especially if you have a laptop with you. You can’t leave the table, unless you take everything with you – so you can’t re-fill your coffee, or go to the bathroom. If you take everything with you, it’s sods law that somebody else will take “your” table while you’re not at it. I’ve had that happen while travelling with work in the past. And of course if you leave your bag or coat at the table, then people might think it’s lost property.

Looking around the pub – at least in the direction I’m facing- I’m the only person here on my own.

I went clothes shopping yesterday – clothes for the impending holiday. Smart shirts, and a “casual” blazer. It feels odd – calling a blazer “casual” – it almost feels like clothes are still associated with class in a strange sort of “Jeeves and Wooster” way. Casual to me is a t-shirt – not a particular cut of blazer and khaki pants.

After half an hour being measured and talked at by the most genial, friendly shop assistant I might have ever encountered, I left having spent an eye-watering amount of money.

My other half banned me from buying clothes from Amazon some time ago.

If you didn’t know – we depart next Monday for a month long holiday – our first in two years. A cruise around the Mediterranean to celebrate twenty five years of putting up with one another. We’re visiting pretty much everywhere along the way – Spain, Italy, Malta, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, Tunisia, and Gibraltar.

Along the way aboard ship there will be formal dinners – full black tie – I have a dinner jacket and waistcoat hanging in the closet, ready to go – and the most expensive suit I’ve ever owned alongside it.

We have pre-paid for pretty much everything on-board ship – including internet access. I’m taking a laptop with me, so you’ll no doubt find almost daily posts from me along the way – with pictures and stories of life on-board, foreign cities, and the friends we make along the way.

I’ve been debating about taking a paper journal – to record unfiltered thoughts about what might be a pivotal journey in many ways – a half-way mark in life, with thoughts about the future. Taking time out from “life” for a few weeks will do me some good – especially after several years burning the candle at both ends.

Anyway.

Time is marching on. There’s only so long you can spend sitting at a table on your own in a pub, not buying anything, before the staff start glancing sideways at you.

Maybe I’ll go look at paper journals and pens.