Off the Leash...

Well, I finally decided to forgive the Starbucks at the Spring for past insults, so I bit the bullet (or biscuit as the case may be) and paid them a visit yesterday.

It is very rare that I am let off the leash on a Saturday afternoon like this without the family being with me, but this was a very special Saturday. It started off really well. The wife and her friend went off to the kampung to see some sick friends, and I went up to the campus ostensibly to attend a presentation to be given by an overseas visitor.

I went to the auditorium just before the appointed time (2 pm), because I am punctual like that. The place was empty, so I didn't have to fight for a seat. Sitting down, I started to revel in this unexpected opportunity to appreciate in fine detail the exquisite wood carving of the auditorium seats, and the elegantly tantalising array of light switches tastefully arranged on the wall near the entrance.

So, while enjoying all this architectural detail, I simply sat there and waited for someone to turn up.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until, at about 2.30, I received a call from one of the organisers informing me that the presentation was cancelled and that she had already called me at mid-day to let me know.

Funny how my mobile phone's call log did not record this fact, but there you go. If it had, I WOULD NOT HAVE BLOODY WELL WASTED MY TIME COMING ALL THE WAY TO WORK ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON!!

But I am one of those people who tries as hard as possible, when misfortune befalls them, to extract something positive out of the negative. So I decided to make my way to Starbucks, in the Spring, for a well-deserved coffee-fix.

Now this place was diametrically opposite to the auditorium where I had earlier been humiliated. It was packed to the walls and buzzing with clumps of trendy, shiny-haired young people with trendy bright young faces, clothes and limbs, all yapping VERY LOUDLY and sipping coffee and surfing the net on their lappies. There were hardly any seats but luckily, spotting two of my work colleagues, I managed to sit near to them.

We were sitting right next to the window, which is never my favourite place to sit because you feel like a goldfish. All these people are sliding past outside and none of them can resist the temptation to look in at you while you are drinking your coffee. Which must be nice if you are young and fit and handsome like nearly everyone else in that coffee shop seemed to be.

You can imagine what it must be like to be on TV. The camera is pointing straight at you, and every zit, every blemish, every loose nose hair and every fold of flesh is exposed for the whole universe to see. And of course, you are totally unable to resist the temptation to look outwards at the passers-by, and evaluate them. My colleague kept evaluating the womens' shoes. Me, being a family man, kept as quiet as I could...

I then came to realise one of the main differences between the Spring Starbucks and the Airport branch. And that is the noise level. At the airport, the background sonic ambiance consists of pleasant aural contours of gentle music combined with airport announcements and the polite buzz of conversation among mostly well-heeled business travellers and foreign tourists. It's all so very civilised.

But the Spring branch is like a zoo in comparison - here the ambiance is shot through with loud chatter and, yesterday, strident sounds of babies screaming from the group of young parents behind us, turning the place instantly into a family restaurant, rather than the trendy, cool coffee joint that Starbucks usually is.

I think next time I go there, I will make sure I invest in an iPod, or some other device for blocking out the sound. I definitely would not have been able to read a book there, as I would have in the airport branch.

But despite all that, the afternoon hadn't turn out so badly after all. After finishing my coffee and shouting goodbye to my colleagues, I went for my chicken cornish at Secret Recipe, then went on an extended trawl through the miniature MPH upstairs, scouting out future purchases. And then home, to wait for my wife to return from her day.

And unlike the situation at work, I didn't have to wait all that long for Annie to come back. She never lets me down. So it was a rather satisfying day off the leash after all!!

By the way, I would like to finish with an apology to my reader (s) for my long absences from this blog. These days, it seems, the most interesting topics to write about are forbidden ones, and the most forbidding topics are the most interesting!

But don't despair, Prof. Madder will not desert his readership just yet!!