Wednesday, August 20, 2003
The black shoe diaries
Yesterday was a very, very weird day.
I suppose you could say it started when I dropped my shoe as I was getting onto the Egham train at Weybridge. It skidded off my foot in a hurry and plunged into the dark recesses of the track.
After a second's hesitation I decided to do that most English of things - carry on as if nothing had happened. It was awkward walking down the Egham station with just one shoe, so I took it off and stuck it in my bag. That's right, I went to the office (one I had never been in before by the way...) with no shoes on.
And no one noticed.
I sat through three hours of training, went to lunch with the trainer, and chatted up some people in Egham, all the while expecting someone to shout "Oi! Where's yer shoes?" at me in the cafeteria. But no one did. The politeness of this country astonishes me. I did tell Pip and John who were in the training with me. It sort of became a strange social experiment and everyone behaved surrealistically to form.
Well. At lunchtime I got back to Weybridge and dug out my trainers.
Last night Van and Ampy got off the tube at Leicester Square smack into the premiere of Tomb Raider II. They took some blurry pictures of Angelina Jolie smiling at the screaming crowds. Both are still starstruck at this moment. I don't blame them really. More later, I hope...
I suppose you could say it started when I dropped my shoe as I was getting onto the Egham train at Weybridge. It skidded off my foot in a hurry and plunged into the dark recesses of the track.
After a second's hesitation I decided to do that most English of things - carry on as if nothing had happened. It was awkward walking down the Egham station with just one shoe, so I took it off and stuck it in my bag. That's right, I went to the office (one I had never been in before by the way...) with no shoes on.
And no one noticed.
I sat through three hours of training, went to lunch with the trainer, and chatted up some people in Egham, all the while expecting someone to shout "Oi! Where's yer shoes?" at me in the cafeteria. But no one did. The politeness of this country astonishes me. I did tell Pip and John who were in the training with me. It sort of became a strange social experiment and everyone behaved surrealistically to form.
Well. At lunchtime I got back to Weybridge and dug out my trainers.
Last night Van and Ampy got off the tube at Leicester Square smack into the premiere of Tomb Raider II. They took some blurry pictures of Angelina Jolie smiling at the screaming crowds. Both are still starstruck at this moment. I don't blame them really. More later, I hope...
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