Punctuality is not my forte.
I was a pretty punctual person until my early 20s, although by that point, after living in London for a few years, I decided to wave the white flag and join the fashionably late brigade. Anyone who's ever stepped into the London Underground Bermuda Triangle and been reported missing by the friends will know the frustration at seeing your life ebb away while stuck in a stranger's armpit on a Central Line carriage.
However, today I knew I had to be on time, as this was going to the first of only two opportunities I had this month to catch the Jewish Cleopatra.
Or so I thought.
So I pack my overnight bag (I'm doing a sleep-in shift at work tonight - joy!) early. I got in the shower, early. I shave early, etc. Basically, I was Mr Early today.
I left my flat (early). Stepping out onto the street from TK Towers a No.29 bus passed me.
It was too early.
Despite being too cool to run for buses, I managed to make the bus as the driver decided to nip into a shop to get a drink.
So I arrive at work.
Early.
I drop my bag upstairs, stroll down to the staff office and walk in through the door.
Early.
Five minutes early. Result! Not too suspicious...
Except...
She's not there.
I feign innocence and ask the other staff in the office who else did the sleep in shift, knowing full well I'd pined at the rota for many an afternoon since the new shifts were announced, and how few she'd been given. Thankfully, she hadn't gone (early), so I go upstairs to unpack some of my stuff.
And then she walks into the upstairs office, looking like Horses-era Patti Smith mixed with Cleopatra.
Be still my beating heart.
I knew it was going to be a brief chat, as when you finish a sleep-in shift you really want to leave the place sharpish, but I also knew I really wanted to ask her for a drink and I only had two chances to do that this month.
But... it just really wasn't the time. As much as I want to ask her out, I want it to look vaguely natural when I do get round to it. So I let it go and said at the end of our chat: "see you soon. Whenever that's going to be".
She replied: "I'm sure it won't be that long, TK".
I checked the rota downstairs when I got in, expecting the July rotas to be out today, as promised, which of course meant they were delayed until next week. While I sort of expected that, I didn't expect the extra bank shift booked in towards the end of the week, overlapping rather nicely with one of mine.
Which just happened to be filled by the person I broke the tardy habits of a lifetime for today.
It seems my lobbying at the team meeting on Tuesday had had an immediate impact.
The rest of the day went by in something of a haze. Having to work a nine-hour shift with a co-worker you really don't get on with is pretty tough, especially when you've seen someone you swoon over leave the building.
Later in the evening as I played pool with one of the residents, True by Spandau Ballet came on the radio. For the next three and a half minutes I was in another world, dreaming of thrills in my head and pills on my tongue, forever being punctual and True!
This finding deeper meaning in classic 80s pop songs can only mean one thing...
She's going to politely turn down my offer of a drink (whenever I get round to making it).
