Bikes and Bridges

I was at this cafe the other day, sitting under that painting, reading and writing, as I tend to do. This girl sits down with some sort of weird cheese and tomato based English sandwich at the next table over. The Bodelein's opening in a few minutes, so I start packing to leave.

"You're not from here, are you?" Says the girl, in an American accent modified by a year or two in Oxford.

"Nope, the States actually. How'd you guess?"

"Well. You aren't wearing any shoes. You've got a 'North Face' backpack. And your computer's using an American adapter."

There's some small talk as I finish packing up, meticulously. She's a full time student here, studying Philosophy and something like History of Religion. I couldn't really keep my mind together during the conversation, as I had the paper due in a few hours, and hadn't really written anything except a paragraph or two in the cafe. She's got a pretty good smile, and an eagle's approach to maintaining eye contact. Anyway, I left.

I generally assume that interesting people (or interesting to each other at least) tend to meet up again and again. So, that's something to keep an eye out for.

Did you know I won some sort of poetry award recently? I asked the school for more information, but they're not talkin'. Do they realize that I didn't actually submit any poetry to the Tower?

Would one of you mind turning in one of my stories for this semester's Tower?