Coffee & Dates

beep... beep beep... Bang the alarm and slap the sleep off my face. There's only one thing on my mind this morning, "Conference call at 9 a.m., Conference call at 9..." I have very little time to dilly and none to dally at all: I had to be in the office pronto. I manage to jump into the shower, out of the shower, into my clothes, jump my breakfast into my mouth, jump out of the house (in my red shoes) and off to work - all very Super Mario Brothers style, all very quick and efficient as I try for once to beat the human traffic to the city. Put on socks, jump, jump, grab some gold coins, jump, jump, out the door.

"Conference call at 9 a.m., Conference call at 9..." I'm not wearing a watch today so I swiftly pull out my phone to look at the time as I walk to the bus stop and feel the rain begin to spit at my forehead. Go on, mock me while I'm vulnerable, the clouds taunt me in my own voice as I look at my telephone. Five minutes earlier than usual: good stuff, seroo, good stuff. Let's hope this works. I need to be in with plenty of time to spare for my dreaded conference call.

Walking to the bus stop, I'm surprised by the lack of suited umberllas queuing for a spot on the bus. I look at the time again and start to panic as I realize the last bus must have already left. "Conference call at 9 a.m., Conference call at 9..." I try to calculate how long it will be until a bus comes and whether I'll make my call or not - how soaked I'll get in the now drizzling rain and how long it will take for me to dry and whether I won't dry at all and maybe I'll get pnemonia and will I get admitted to the hospital and will they bring in a vicar if it's serious...? Thankfully, I'm interrupted in my train of thought by the D7 flashing its lights at me. Great. I'll live til yet another rainy day.

"Conference call at 9 a.m., Conference call at 9..." Wait a minute, something's different about this bus... There aren't any noisy children in school uniforms and I'm standing comfortably in my own space. The bus driver isn't driving like a maniac either and I get to the station in record time. Hmm. Poseiden and Medusa aren't waiting for me at Canary Wharf station, so things must be normal. Hmm.

I hop off the bus then proceed through the station mall to the tube. I'm welcomed by the mass exodus of people rushing out of the trains and every orphus underground to get to giant tickers overgound. I look around; There's the bottleneck of people trying to get on the escalators, there's the mess of newspapers scattered about, and yet there is something different in the air. I contemplate the thought as I go through my usual routine of dodge-shift-swerve,-pirouette through the masses - am I getting better at this or what? It all seems too simple as I find my way down the escalator to the back of the train as it was approaching. Something does not seem right, but "Conference call at 9 a.m., Conference call at 9..." is still in the back of my head and I look through the moving glass to see which carriage to weave my way in.

Train approaches, I walked to the back carriages and smoothly walked through the sliding doors and found a seat with a neatly placed Metro on it. Slie into my chair smugly, looking for recognition from my other fellow commuters for my slick moves to an empty seat and looked up aghast at how many people were standing: near none compared to my usual morning journies. Almost everyone had a seat, everyone was quiet, people looked relaxed, no BO... Could it be that I've actually avoided the crowd by 5 minutes?

Bigger Surprise: my train journey was pleasant as I sat the whole way - even after my change at Green Park (to which the Gujrati folk singer was there today but was still setting up her gear). My commute was fine and I got in the office with plenty of time to sit down, have a cup of tea and contemplate who would win in a fight between myself and a giant baracuda (trick question: I'd never fight a baracuda because I'd already have died of a heart attack on seeing a live fish up close. And now you know).

"Conference call at 9 a.m., Conference call at 9..." no sweat, got there in time without collapsing at my desk the second I got in. Definitely a tip for commuters - sometimes that 5 minute boost in the morning really does make a difference. Look at my journey this morning: I wasn't soaked, I didn't have to clutch my bag in suspicion of every little brat that bumped into me, I didn't have to read the paper over someone else's shoulder and I actually sat on the train today. I sat down people, and that in itself is worth rushing yourself for 5 minutes. Well worth it, I'd say.