Diary Day

Today began so easily. I woke early for me; I went to sleep around three a.m., so waking at 10:00 a.m. was like sleeping in for me. I normally get about six hours of sleep. Last night I don't remember dreaming.

I was at a friend's house on the coast and the sound of waves usually puts me to sleep and then gently wakes me. I didn't hear the waves this morning, but instead just drifted to the surface. I knew I had to get my clothing and all the rest of my paraphernalia together for the drive home so I made myself a cup of tea and finished organizing everything. I was ready to leave in an hour and a half but I delayed to check my email and because I just didn't want to leave the sight of the ocean.

The waves were bigger this morning and quite a few surfers had gathered. As I drove by I thought about the day ahead and the day behind.

Yesterday had been flat so I went into the City to visit another friend. He seemed more energetic than he has been for a while and in general just healthier. Often he seems depressive because he has never found his "work". He told me he found a workplace he really likes and also that whatever he does next he is going to do until he retires. This came as quite a surprise because he has spent a lot of time bouncing from one job to another trying to find the "perfect" job and regretting all the time he has spent at whatever job he just left. He also told me he has started, restarted actually, taking dance classes. When I told him I thought this was a good idea because dance is a great meditation and since he wasn't going to be getting in any major ballet companies...which he interrupted, joking, "yes I am". At least, I thought he was joking, so I laughed. Then he said, "why are you laughing?" in such a dead-pan manner, I wasn't sure he wasn't fantasizing about being a "star" again. I have heard this before. My friend suffers a bit from agoraphobia so on occasion he has lived locked away in his apartment and the only stimulus he has had has been his own mind and television.

He is one of those people who is impressed with the idea of movie stars and celebrities and talks about whoever has the lastest headlines. Depending on whether he finds them the kind of talent he appreciates he spends a lot of time praising or blaspheming them. He is a good person with a history of poor choices. Like lunch.

He invited me to lunch and I let him choose the place where we would eat. He chose a little restaurant with a crepe menu and kept telling me that before the place changed its name it had really great sandwiches. When the server came to take our order he ordered a sandwich. The server was very accommodating and asked him what kind of sandwich he would like and my friend told him chicken salad. There were no sandwiches on the menu at all, but the server said we don't have chicken salad but I think we can make a sandwich with a broiled chicken breast and some veggies. My friend thought that sounded fine and agreed. He told the server what kind of bread he wanted and that was that. When his lunch arrived he said as the server walked away, "I am unimpressed." When he said this I refrained from comment. Then when lunch was over the server came over and placed the bill in front of me.

This isn't so unusual. When I am with someone or even in a group of people servers frequently hand me the bill. I made a joke and handed the bill to my friend. The server had a little laugh and walked away. My friend studied the bill for a few minutes then handed it back to me. I asked if I was paying. Rather reluctantly, he handed me a bill to cover his sandwich. Just the sandwich. I couldn't help feeling somehow I had been taken for a bit of a ride. After eating he asked if I minded if he went to the drugstore to buy a vitamin box, and then to another variety store to buy soap.

I haven't seen my friend for quite a while although we've talked on the phone. Currently he isn't working so he has pretty much nothing but time to look for work and buy what he thinks is necessary for his life. I really don't mind doing these things but it just seems surprising to me that when I haven't seen a friend for some time they would choose something as mundane as looking for a vitamin box over conversation. He seemed surprised when I told him I was going back to the coast house to finish my laundry. I told him this after we had returned to his apartment and he started looking videos up on You-Tube, and wanted to show me "these great dance videos".

The drive from the coast was almost meditational. I stopped once for petrol and after that the traffic just seemed to open in front of me. Except for the compulsory stop at a toll plaza, I drove straight through to my home. Very unusual I thought. Unloading anything I didn't want at work, I took a moment to drink some juice then went on to work.

Before I even had opened my door, I noticed that a number of clients were already back at the hotel from their own work. It was a pleasant day so they were standing around conversing and looking generally happy. One man came to tell me he needed a room next week and could we set him up. Not a problem. Then something happened.

I heard loud, very loud, talking and what sounded like crying from somewhere outside. I went outside to inspect because the woman making the noise had a really intrusive sound to her voice. What I found was a woman curled into a fetal position in one of the parking spots with her head pressed to the pavement and a cell phone held tightly to her ear and shrieking loudly but indistinctly. I simply told her to stop. She interrupted her shrieking to tell me almost conversationally to call 911. Then she repeated it. Conversationally. Then she went back to shrieking into the cell phone. When I told her to stop, she interrupted her "conversation" again to tell me to call 911 and that she thought maybe she had hurt her head on the pavement.

I realized there wasn't a lot of reasonable action occurring so I returned to the office to call 911. Fifteen seconds after I had entered the office and while I was talking to the 911 operator, she picked herself up and marched straight into the middle of the street, threw herself face down and stretched out perpendicular to the yellow line. She stretched out her legs and arms to present as long a silhouette as possible. Traffic immediately started slowing and another of the hotel guests ran into the street to prevent the woman from being run over. I saw him bend over her and say something to which her visible response was a swim like kick and pounding of her fists on the pavement. He hesitated a moment then taking hold of the back of her jeans picked her up like a suitcase and walked with her back to the relative safety of the parking lot, where he placed her much more gently than I believe he wanted.

An elevated pick-up which had been forced to stop pulled into the parking lot and two tattooed burly fellows got out and proceeded to berate the man who had carried the woman to the parking lot because he had not put her in the shade. She said nothing. I had run from the office to tell everyone who had gathered that the police and the fire department would be arriving soon and to just leave her where she was. The incipient fight between the guest and the hopeful heroes ended suddenly and the tattooed gentlemen drove away. I told the guest who carried the woman out of the street that the police might want to ask him some questions to which he replied he was okay with that. i returned to the office where another guest, very very angry, was telling no one in particular that she "wasn't going to put up with this" and she was leaving.

The manager's son, who does not work for the hotel, asked the woman rather confrontationally what she had said. And she gladly repeated everything. The son then told her that the woman wasn't a guest of the hotel and this wasn't the fault of the hotel. The woman did not care and said so, she also reaffirmed she was leaving. The son seemed really offended at her anger more than anything else, so I interrupted and told her that it was fine. She could leave if she wanted. I pulled her bill out and destroyed it so she could see that it had actually been destroyed. She then pointedly told me she hadn't paid for the first night and I told her to never mind, it was on the hotel. She then said she wasn't trying to get out of paying the bill, she just wasn't going to put up with activity like that. I repeated that we were fine with her choice and to leave with our blessing. To which she did.

Here's the thing. The entire incident with the woman on the street had taken about three minutes. Then including the arrival of the police and the fire department, a total of maybe five minutes had passed while she and I had our discussion in the office. When she left the office, her husband was already trying to get their car out of their parking space which was partially blocked by one of the emergency vehicles. She walked straight to the car and got in. They had a little difficulty getting passed the police car and motorcycle and fire engine. So from the time the incident had started till the time they got out of the parking lot wasn't more than about twelve minutes. Much of that time she had spent in the office telling us she was leaving.

These people had come to the hotel as part of a wine tasting tour they were making. They had bought wine the day before and had at least planned on a two day stay. They had arrived from where ever they had gone today about a minute before the whole incident had started. Literally. Maybe less than a minute. So from arrival at the hotel till departure not more than fifteen minutes passed.

I am impressed at the speed of their packing.