Taking Shelter
It didn’t look like rain. If it had looked like rain, I would never have set off on a Saturday morning for an hour of Prize Draw down by the car park. If it’s raining no-one wants to stop and talk.
But by the time the sky went black, I was already there – and when the first spots of rain soaked into my entry form, I knew there was nothing for it but to seek shelter along with everyone else under the little alcove outside the shoe repair shop.
And that was how I learned to love the rain.
There was a man standing next to me. He looked out at the weather. He stayed put.
He was a young man – all men are young when you’re my age – and I find that young men are always in a hurry. Moreover he was wearing a suit and that meant that not only would he be in a hurry but he would be much too important to enter a free Prize Draw.
But he wasn’t going anywhere and I wasn’t going anywhere either and so I asked him.
He looked at me. He looked at me as a businessman in the prime of life might look at someone who is less important and on top of that, rather old and past it.
I just smiled. You can do that if you’ve been there and done it – and you know a secret that the other person has yet to discover.
He stopped and he thought for a second – and something made him loosen up and step out of character. Fighting against his better judgement, he said “Yes,” he would like to enter my Prize Draw – and then we got talking and as it happens, he would be interested in “additional part-time earnings” as well.
So him I’m going to see on Friday afternoon.
Don’t ask me why this happens. All I know is that sometimes it does – as long as you talk to everyone…
| Date | Time | How | Minutes | Number of people asked | Appointment? | Callback agreed? |
| 21.01.12 | 1503 – 1515 | Prize Draw. Woodbridge Car Park | 7 | 1 | Yes Cancelled | |
| 1149 – 1159 | 10 (17) | 10 | Yes | |||
| 1159 – 1202 | 3 (20) | 10 | Yes | |||
| 1202 – 1218 | 10 (30) | 31 | Yes | |||
| 1218 – 1226 | 18 (49) | 10 (34) | No | Yes | ||
| 1226 – 1242 | 16 (1HR:05) | 33 (67) | No | |||
| Total | 1hr: 05mins | 30 | 3 | 2 |