A summer Friday: tainted
My firm has a great perk. One Friday a month during the summer, the office closes at noon, leaving us free to cavort in the lovely weather. I planned my week carefully so I could get my work done and still be free to knock off a bit early. I ended up departing around 4pm (so much for noon) determined to grab an hour of “me” time.
I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my bit of afternoon; had been planning it for weeks. It seems simple but for those of us mantled with responsibilities, it was a delightful fantasy. I wanted to sit in the sun on the downtown mall with a book and an iced mocha. It was, in my mind, the perfect way to unwind, relax and enjoy a few quiet moments to myself.
I descended upon the Mudhouse, ordered my mocha and settled down to a cafe table with my book.
Enter the Charlottesville Valley Girl. This is a breed with whom I was previously unfamiliar. Oh, how I wish it were still that way.
First, she issued several voicemails to friends, via her cell phone, detailing her whereabouts for the weekend. Then, her friend arrived and they loudly discussed their recent dating histories with lots of ohmagawds and can you even believe thats. I tried not to listen. I tried to read. In my fantasy I was going to surrounded by laptop toting intellectuals, old guys playing chess, a few DTM hippies; certainly not the DRAMA of the Charlottesville dating scene.
My perfect afternoon was tainted, but still mildly entertaining, glad was I that I’m so beyond that stage, I’m not even sure I was ever there.