The Contingency Plan

The story started four months ago. Armed with an umbrella and my i-pod, I'd been drinking with work friends and was feeling rather relaxed and refreshed as I wandered through Sydney's fabulous fashion capital - Oxford St - in the rain.

I reached an intersection where I noticed two people waiting by the lights without shelter. Feeling quite charitable, I asked if they would like to share my umbrella and being a little tipsy/happy, started a conversation about their plans for the night.

Before we had reached the other side of the road, I'd discovered they belong to a quaint little monthly book club, had swapped business cards with both, and planned on attending their next little gathering, I was so excited!

Fast forward four months later and here I am after returning for my third time.

So let me tell you a little bit more about the people that go...

Regulars
* Jack - started the book club around 18 months ago with Isabelle. Warm, funny and engaging, Jack's a lawyer but also a professional Bondi Beach surf lifesaver in his spare time (yes... he wears those infamously red dick stickers). He's the man I met that day in the rain and from that time forth, has dubbed me 'the umbrella goddess'. Jack's just turned 31.
* Isabelle - friendly and cultured, Isabelle organizes each of the get-togethers and is the keeper of 'the book' (yes the book club has its own book). Isabelle's also a lawyer and was walking with Jack that fateful day I met them both. She has amazing cheekbones and a genuinely uplifting smile. She's in her mid to late thirties.
* Jeremy - has been a regular for around nine months now, but has been a student for nine years: first a law degree that he postponed, then a phD in English literature, which he's now completing while finishing his law degree. The thing I like best about Jeremy is neither that he's also a yoga teacher on Monday nights, nor that he's tall and extremely good looking, but that he's addicted to reality tv and trashy mags just like I am. He's 26.
* William - is a long-timer who's studying fine arts, majoring in art theory. An older man (early forties), William's very entertaining, expressive with his hands when he talks, pronounces all of his words beautifully and always holds strong arguments and opinions.
* Tara - discovered the book club through Jeremy. Super friendly, she smiles a lot, we tend to vote for similar books and she wakes up at 5am each morning to exercise, something totally beyond my comprehension. I'd say she's also in her twenties.
* Duncan - is a journalist with a wicked, dry sense of humour. A travel writer who has published his own travel book, Duncan's the kinda guy who always has a tasty story, whether it's of how he fought off a prestigious, multiple award-winning, and absolutely horny artist when he was 14 or of his recent geisha experiences in Japan. He has a head full of grey hair but I think he's only in his mid-thirties.

There were nine of us there tonight and after dinner we walked to our local bookstore where people picked their preferences and we then voted on our next selection. Some get quite passionate about the whole process, which always make for an entertaining experience.

Anyhow, the night was also significant because of other reasons, but now I'm tired so I'm going to have to continue with this one later... sorry...

If anyone's interested, we're reading Margaret Atwood's "Onyx and Crate".

xx