To make the most benign situation into a crisis, just alter your perception!

So last night I was supposed to go and get diving gear for this weekend so that I could go diving with a friend. Of course now it looks like she doesn't need a buddy so I'm quite glad i didn't waste my money, particularly since she still hasn't let me know... whining aside, the clubhouse opens at 6:30pm and at 6 I was sitting in the lab reading some books on using applied chemistry in nuclear physics calculations when Luke and Leia's supervisor came past to say goodbye and to ask me to keep an eye out in case some visiting French researchers who were supposed to have arrived in the afternoon.

I might have scared him slightly with my enthusiasm for the calculations I was working on, as well as the fact that i have discovered that the best way to concentrate while reading physics is to paint my nails at the same time. The only colour I had with me at the time was black. I'm not seeing the problem but other people seems to find it a bit alarming. Add in the fact that I'm having some sort of allergy attack which makes my eyes water a lot (it looks like tears) and you have a super-enthusiastic, physics-quoting, black-nail (and eyeliner)-ed up apparently crying PhD student. I must admit, I'd beat a hasty retreat as well!

Anyway I got a phone call a few minutes later from the superV saying that he'd had a call from the French people saying that they were lost in the centre of town! For those of you who don't know, the centre of town in Joburg is a pretty scary place at night (and during the day) as it's dark and scary and people (mostly taxis) drive like crazy and you kind of remember all the stories of people not making it out alive...

He decided that rather than come back to the alb and figure out a plan he would leap straight into the area and try and find them. I mean, imagine being a foreigner who barely speaks English trying to understand convoluted directions over the phone while scared out of your mind... and in the meantime I tried to figure out where they were with the help of Google Earth... while he proceeded to get more and more lost. I can understand a map being out of date, but seriously, a streaming satellite image should be pretty much what's really there? Either he didn't follow my instructions or there was something seriously Twilight Zoneish going on because nothing went according to plan!

Meanwhile time was going by rather quickly and I was starting to stress out because Tai Chi starts at 7:30pm and I usually leave at about 6:45 so that I have plenty of time to get there and change and lock my stuff away and all that. By ten past 7 I was starting to stress out. I had told Leia by then that if the girl who wanted me to dive with her wanted me there, SHE could get me gear because I'd had nothing from her in the last few days and renting gear is expensive, particularly if you don't end up diving. I was not prepared to leave the map or my phone for very long because the whole situation of the lost people is REALLY dangerous! (And for the record she already made plans without me, so basically it's a good thing I didn't waste the time and/or effort).

Eventually I got a call at 7:10pm to say that the SuperV had found a sign to the place where the French were waiting, so I sprinted (I can honestly say I've never run that fast before) down to my car. it was FREEZING so you know that feeling when you take a deep breath of ice air? So as I was gasping away the superV phoned to say he's found them and they were all OK. Five seconds later, with my phone complaining loudly at the lack of battery life, the guy from last weekend started calling me and I was trying to drive up to the building so I could change and dash off to Tai Chi and I didn't really want to kill my phone because I don't like to be driving around at night without it and I was also waiting to hear if Luke had survived surgery or not so I just couldn't talk. He was pretty understanding (the fact that I wasn't speaking too slowly because I was all adrenalin-ed-up probably didn't help) and so i dashed into the lab, changed while crouching behind the lab bench behind Leia's desk (you don't realise how huge the windows are until you need to change, I don't care if the glass is frosted!) and somehow made it to Tai Chi in time!

And I learned a ton of new stuff so now I can officially get through the arm-up exercise (the whole group does the beginners form) without getting lost! And it was also a totaly relief to get there and do the calming breathing exercises (where you rpetend to hug a tree).