We all roll our eyes and return to casting desperate looks at our phone screens. According to the BBC News site, the UK’s transport network is in danger of grinding to a halt tomorrow, Christmas Eve. The bookies have stopped taking bets on a white Christmas, last night temperatures plunged to minus ten degrees Celsius and thousands of children are causing their parents extra stress by making last-minute snowboard and sledge additions to their Santa lists.
‘TheMailis now calling it the Mega Beast from the East,’ exclaims Alfie, fiddling with his trendy beard and reading aloud from his phone. ‘Tomorrow towns will become cut off, society will break down, there will be widespread chaos and Christmas could be cancelled.’
Michael laughs and peers over Alfie’s shoulder. A sense of unease about my journey and the possible end of the world due to the snow makes me squirm in my seat. I reassure myself with the fact that the media always blow things out of proportion with the weather and society has never broken down in Scotland due to severe snow.
Alfie grins at me. ‘Where are you off to, Rory?’
‘Huh? Oh, erm, Brighton.’
A look of fear spreads across Michael’s face. ‘Oh, God, you’ll never get there in this weather.’
Alfie rolls his eyes and turns to me. ‘Ignore my ultra-positive husband.’
Michael casts me a deadpan expression. ‘Rory, you’ll be fine.’ He flicks his eyes to the floor and whispers, ‘You might want to buy some rope, an emergency blanket and a torch in London.’
Alfie gives Michael a playful nudge and we all start to laugh.
‘You got family in Brighton, Rory?’ Michael asks.
Crossing my legs under the table I shake my head. ‘No. My ex-girlfriend lives there.’
Alfie’s eyes widen with interest. ‘Oh, I see.’
He checks his phone and nudges Michael. ‘Check out that news article.’
Michael’s dark eyes dart back and forth across the article. ‘We need to ditch our jobs in the new year and become entrepreneurs.’
Alfie laughs. ‘I’m thinking the same.’ He turns to me. ‘You ever had a crazy idea for a new business venture?’
A memory of Emily and me brainstorming her future online vintage clothes business while we decorated her bedroom in the flat she shared with Lizzie comes back to me. I had been encouraging her to start a dressmaking business for months after witnessing her ability to make stunning dresses for all her friends. I was confident she could make a success of it. So, we both came up with ideas for her business and battled with her fancy new wallpaper at the same time. I remember after we’d finished decorating, we went for a pizza, and she took a notebook and pen. Our business brainstorming session went on into the night and it gave us both a thrill.
Alfie grins at Michael. ‘Shall we tell him our idea?’
‘If we see him onDragon’s Denin the future selling our idea to Deborah, we will have to hunt him down,’ says Michael, with a grin.
Alfie flashes his phone screen at me. I see a bold headline which reads: LOVE ON THE RIGHT TRACK –Survey reveals increase in people meeting the love of their life at their local train station.
They both watch my face like hawks although misread my confused look.
‘I first met Michael at a train station,’ explains Alfie, ‘London St Pancras.’
I let out several inner groans. Why did I get myself into this conversation? I sneak a quick glance at the bloke a few seats along the train aisle who is sat in his own little world listening to headphones. He had the right idea.
Michael takes over their story. ‘Before we got together Alfie lived in Wolverhampton and I was based in Lincoln. It was a Saturday, and we were both in London for the rugby. I dropped my ticket and handsome stranger, Alfie, picked it up and handed it to me.’
‘I knew I was in love from the moment he smiled at me,’ says Alfie, winking at his husband. ‘An unforgettable smile.’
Emily had an unforgettable smile when Vivi introduced us in a pub. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. When she smiled, I felt light-headed and for the first time in my life I felt nervous in front of a woman. It took me until the fourth date to pluck up the courage to kiss her.
‘We swapped numbers,’ says Alfie, ‘and he called me later from a bar in Richmond to invite me over to join him for a post-match drink.’
Michael nods. ‘London St Pancras will always be a magical place for us.’
Alfie’s face lights up. ‘We later discovered that, within our respective friendship networks, quite a few people had met the love of their life at… London St Pancras.’
Scratching my head, I try to remain looking vaguely interested.
Michael holds up his fingers on his right hand. ‘Kylie, who I met when I was backpacking around China, got talking to her future husband while buying her ticket there. Alfie’s mate Kevin met his future hubby while boarding a train to Lincoln.’
