Because it was long past rush hour, it was half an hour for another bus, so what do you do?
You cheer yourself up by taking a bit of a detour, knowing there's a good book in your bag to read (an excellent book on writing by Christopher Vogler and David McKenna called "Memo From the Story Department.")
The detour is McDonalds for an ice-cream.
While I was waiting I spotted Richard. He's an eccentric character, one of the streeties you see when you work in the city. I've chatted to him a lot before, about books and sports and anything really. He used to wear a jacket supporting the same rugby league team one of my kids supported. A team that at the time happened to be the bottom-of-the-table team, and had been for many years.
The book could wait.
So I took my ice-cream over to where Richard was, sat down and we had a good twenty minute natter about stuff. He asked what I was doing in town late; I told him I'd been at a work event.
He's from England, originally, so we talked about royal things, especially in light of the Queen's statement supporting Prince Charles as the next head of the Commonwealth. We talked about public transport, about history, about languages - about a heap of stuff. Or rather, he talked and I listened. Then time was up, the ice-cream was long gone, and the bus would be arriving soon.
I look forward to catching up with Richard again, soon.
