A suit, a pair of shoes, and a dark grey t-shirt are hanging behind me in the junk room at home - waiting for me to return home early from work tomorrow afternoon, and head into London to meet friends. You might wonder why I might wear a suit - and I would counter that we are headed to a cocktail bar in Mayfair - one of the most exclusive properties on the British monopoly board. If plans work out, we will meet at “Mr Fogg’s Residence” - a bar themed after the literary character “Phileas Fogg”, from Jules Verne’s novel “Around the World in 80 Days”.
I’m not meeting just any group of friends either - I’m meeting bloggers. One from San Francisco, and two from London, as far as I am aware. We’ve been quietly reading each other’s adventures for the last couple of years, never really thinking of crossing paths in the real world - but then the opportunity unfolded in front of us, and… well… why not ?
I’ve never been to a “meetup” before. I’ve met several fellow bloggers over the years individually, but never a get-together of several. It’s going to be odd. We know far more about each other’s lives than many in our lives. We know about each other’s hopes, fears, memories, thoughts, ideas, adventures, failures, worries - you name it, we’ve been along for the ride with each other at one point or another. Like I said - it’s going to be odd.
I have a sneaking suspicion we’ll all get on famously, and the evening will vanish in the blink of an eye. Or at least that’s what I’m hoping.