Social pariah

I'm just home after a strenuous 261 mile journey from the Borders to Aberdeen to Inverness to the Borders, and now I'm officially knackered!

I started out yesterday morning with fear and trepidation re the weather which was supposed to be snow and high winds, and I didn't encounter much at all. The wind picked up around Stonehaven, but apart from that the journey was a doddle. I then had my meeting which went well and then headed off to Inverness to spend the night and be ready for my meeting this morning.

The journey was a bit more tortuous as only the A96 can be, and I was supposed to meet friends in the pub on the outskirts of town. When I got there I switched my mobile phone on to find messages from pretty much everyone to say they couldn't make it for one reason or another, which reminded me of something that happened 39 years ago:

Dave, who I was going out with at the time, was in a band and they'd just got back from being on tour. He and I had talked about everyone coming over to mine for dinner and he'd agreed he'd tell everyone, so I left it to him. I then spent 2 days cooking my socks off on my 2 ring Baby Belling cooker with the pint sized oven, and then glammed myself up for the appointed hour. No-one came. I can remember feeling mortified. When Dave came round the next day he was very blase about the whole thing and said something along the lines of, 'oh well I don't know what you're fussing about, it was only a dinner and I can't help that I forgot,' which was not entirely helpful, and hardly surprisingly our relationship didn't last.

I can remember sitting in my flat in Chalk Farm that night feeling like a social pariah, and obviously the memory has been restirred.

At least last night She Who Must Not Be Named and Sheelagh made it, which was good. Though the arrangement with Sheelagh went slightly askew and SWMNBN and I were starving by the time said Sheelagh turned up. Still a glass of wine and some home made fishcakes made up for it, and it was good to catch up in person rather than over the phone.

And now I'm home. Not for long however. I'm off to Edinburgh tomorrow and staying there until Friday, when I head for Samye Ling (about an hour away from home) to take part in a weekend gathering with those who were on a course with me there earlier in the year. There were supposed to be 8 of us, but 2 people have already had to cry off and I've been in charge of the arrangements. Oh dear... I wonder how many more won't be able to make it.

Do you think the universe is trying to tell me something?