A couple of weeks ago a girl
“waved” at me on Asian D8 – Rupy87, aka Rita, 25, a budding fashion designer
from Leicester. From her online profile
she’s 5’6”, size 6 and has a pretty face.
We’ve enjoyed some long and thought provoking conversations on the
phone. One evening she told me about her
passion for fashion, “I want to run my own fashion house and move to Spain in
the next five years.”
“Sound’s very grand! Why Spain?” I asked.
“I spent a year out there as part
of my course and I loved the country and I feel I can work with the Spanish
design and their passion for colour and use it to inspire my creations,” she
responded passionately.
I love people who have a hobby that they've turned into there career and have goals on what they want to achieve in life. Not only was she ambitious career-wise, she
also spoke fondly about Sikhism, “I’ve recently rediscovered my religion,
learning Punjabi from an app I’ve downloaded and I’m the one dragging my
parents to the Gurudwara on the weekends!”
This girl had a lot to talk about
and had everything going for her. I had
to meet her! Earlier this week she
phoned and said she was visiting Bow, East London, to see relatives and
asked if I wanted to meet her.
“It would be great to meet up,
when are you free?” I asked.
“I may be able to escape for a
few hours on Sunday.”
“Sunday’s good. Notting Hill festival’s taking place this
weekend so I’ll take you there if you like?”
“Umm, I’m not really into all
that. How about we just meet somewhere
for a drink?”
“Sure, we’ll decide on the day
where to go. See you on Sunday Rita!”
We finished our conversation and
a date was arranged for Sunday. It’s a
shame she’s not interested in experiencing Afro-Caribbean culture and the
feel-good vibe that Notting Hill festival exhorts. I suppose a leisurely drink is more
appropriate on a first date than grinding up against each other on Ladbroke
Grove to dancehall music!
Carnival, or should I say date
day, had arrived and we had agreed to meet about 4pm outside a coffee shop on Baker Street which meant I could enjoy some of the Carnival before the
date. I was more excited about attending
carnival than the actual date!
Carnival was buzzing! The streets of West London was filled with
various stalls, most serving traditional Caribbean dishes such as jerk chicken,
rice
and peas. Music flooded the
streets. To celebrate 50 years of
Jamaican independence there were old-school reggae tracks from the likes of The Abyssinians, Lee Perry and Bob
Marley beating out the sound systems.
Dancing in the streets goes hand-in-hand with Notting Hill carnival and seeing
the amazing samba dancers and clothes on show were exquisite! A fantastic feast for all the senses!
Before I knew it was 3.30. “Bugger!” I said to myself, realising I only
had 30mins to walk or more likely boogie my way through the crowds and hop onto
the underground and make my way into central London.
I was excited to meet Rita and was
hoping if we hit it off at the coffee shop I could take her back to the
carnival with me.
I arrived at the coffee shop with five
minutes to spare. I stood outside the
shop and as I leaned against the wall to catch my breath back after my dash
across town, a tall girl started walking towards me.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hello? Er, Rita?” I asked hesitantly.
“Yeah, nice to meet you!”
‘Oh bugger!’ I thought to myself. This was not the girl whose photos I saw on
Ruby87’s online profile. The girl
standing before me was 5’10” and staring me right in the eyes – a good four
inches taller than what she said in her profile and she wasn’t wearing
heals! I don’t mind tall girls but my
limit is 5’8”. Why would she make self smaller? This girl wasn’t a size 6
but more a size 14 – I’m not one to mock a girl for her size as it’s all about
her personality and from our phone conversations things should hit-off between
the two of us. We ordered our drinks and
took our seats but something was not right.
I did not feel any spark or chemistry. I
don’t know if this was because she didn’t look like the girl in the photos or I
just was not interested. I liked chatting
to Ruby on the phone but face-to-face was a different matter. I just didn’t want to engage in conversation
with her. Why is it that you can feel
comfortable and talk to someone easily on the phone but not in person?
She told me this was her first time in
London so I told her the history of some of its more famous buildings like
Horse Guards Parade and St Paul’s Cathedral.
By this stage I was disinterested however. My feet were tapping on the floor and eager
to get back to the carnival. Was that
the reason why I was not enjoying myself with Ruby? Would I rather be dancing and enjoying myself
with strangers in Notting Hill than converse with her? This wasn’t fair on Ruby and I feel bad to
have wasted her time. I offered her the
chance to experience carnival but she said it was not her cup of tea.
After twenty minutes I made an excuse
to leave, “Sorry Ruby but I’ve remembered that I have some washing up to do.” That’s right, I made, what was quite possibly, the worst excuse a girl could ever hear for being ditched!
We said goodbye. I guess it was not meant to be. It will not come to a surprise that I returned
to the carnival and enjoyed the rest of the parade, before heading back to the
flat and finish my washing up.
