Erin was having a meeting with someone after work yesterday. I dropped her off and went home, getting a lift to my gym, on the understanding that I’d meet her after gym at the Williams’ Coffee Shop in Waterloo, near where I had left her.
Williams is local chain, with two franchises in Waterloo, at least one in Kitchener, and others elsewhere in Southern Ontario. There’s one right by the gym where I work out. We’ve had a good arrangement whereby Erin would retire to this Williams and work on her writing, while I worked on my (haha) abs. The one up by the University, however, is often busy with students. So, when Dan (my friend and gym partner) and I headed up, we found the place packed, with no Erin in sight.
What follows illustrates the importance of (a) clearly communicating where you will be when arranging to meet, including alternate locations, and (b) not jumping to conclusions.
I call our answering machine and check messages. This is a quick and dirty way of leaving emergency messages when Erin and I are separated. She hasn’t left one. I call home: no answer. Then I literally slap my forehead and figuratively kick myself: she must have taken the bus and gone to the Williams by the gym. Quick, Dan! To the Dan-mobile! After driving 20 minutes from the Gym to Waterloo, he’s less than enthused about driving another 20 minutes back to Kitchener, but he does it. We park, and go into that Williams. No Erin.
Much preturbed, now, I call my answering machine again: Ah! A new message marked “urgent”. Erin passed her seating limit at the Waterloo Williams and was (pleasantly) kicked out. She’s at the Second Cup, now (one block over) and wondering where we are. Quick, Dan, to the — you get the idea. Another 10 minute drive (and several violations of the speeding limits) later, and we step into the Second Cup and find no Erin. Perhaps she’s taken the bus home. Sigh. I ask Dan to drive me home. She’s not there, so I wait by the phone.
Sure enough, the phone rings. It’s Erin, BACK at the Waterloo Williams, wondering where the HELL I am. I tell her to wait there, get into my car, drive up, and pick her up.
Turned out that, while she said “Second Cup”, she really meant “Saint Cinnamon”, which is ANOTHER coffee shop nearby.
I don’t often think this, but that night I thought that Kitchener and Waterloo had entirely too many coffee shops.
I Need to Lose Weight
I took another of those tests: which elementary particle am I?
Turns out, I’m a Top (Truth) Quark. Erin says that this means that I’m rare and much sought after.
And heavy.
Sigh.