And it came to be, almost without notice.
In actual fact there was plenty of notice, but no-one paid much attention
to it.
I (Slime) was the first to arrive at the Goat
in Boots pub in Warren Street shortly followed by Zero. After some time
discussing what time we'd stay till if nobody else turned up, Art arrived
to a thorough interrogation, mostly about what drink that he, after a kind
and generous offer by Zero, wanted.
Time (and Coca-Cola) passed. A country and western
version of Macarena was pumped ruthlessly through the pub sound system.
Conversation survived this hurdle, however. During the following hour,
all manner of topics arose including Art's age. Zero admitted he was still
being walked to school when he was 15, never mind being allowed out in
London going to pubs by himself!
Shortly after another vast expanse of time (oh
all right, about ten minutes). a bone-fido dog was seen sitting by itself
at a table, beer and peanuts at the ready. At this point it was also noticeable
that the rest of the occupants of the pub were no pups themselves (ie it
was granny and gramps night out).
Various (wasted as it turned out) efforts were
made to contact Elusive via land-line and GSM in an effort to increase
the turnout. Maybe next time (with the promise of free money and a guaranteed
way of remembering your Shades account number..).
It turned 9:30 and there was still only three
of us. A yet to be confirmed record low for a highly advertised (according
to Zero about 5 weeks by email, wall, chattrack and InShades) official
Shades meet. We decided to make an evening of it and set about journeying
to Leicester Square in my car. Now, whilst Zero is renowned for being a
bad local navigator, I have to admit that it was me that turned an otherwise
5 minute journey into something approaching half an hour!
Luckily a parking space was forthcoming (at least
it was empty anyway) almost immediately.
Piccadilly Circus loomed and two Armed Response
police officers screeched to a halt and then approached us. They shot past
and disappeared down the underground station entrance - that was a close
one! Walking toward the Trocadero brought an idea into our heads.
The Pepsi (yuk) Max Drop. Art had yet to experience
this. Once inside, we first came across the "electric shock" chair. Despite
being offered a free go by Zero, Art took one look at the chair, claimed
a desperate need for the toilet and left quickly for the nearest tube muttering
something about having to be home by 11:00 by way of an excu, er reason..
And then there were two. It was decided at this
point that the Shades meet had concluded and we were left to our own whims.
We went laser bowling. I shan't mention the score. all right, I lost 2-1;
revenge was mine in air-hockey at 2-0 though.
And that was the conclusion of another meet.
This report is in fact a lot more detailed and interesting than the actual
meet itself. After careful consideration, I decided not to edit it down
to:
"We turned up. There were three of us. We went home."
Hope to see you all (more than two at a time)
soon.
Attendees were (in case you lost the plot):
Slime, Zero and Art.
Dave (Slime).