Fuel

Today I had an interesting conversation with the "Fuel" coffee lady.  I generally share the coffee run with my young colleague.  He's converted me to using one of those reusable cups - and since the introduction of the reusable  cups, slowly the Baristas have kind of becoming more engaged.   I've been going to this Fuel coffee station for nearly 3 months, and until today the interactions had been pretty much restricted to the long black order, and how many cups either I or my colleague have had that particular today.

However, this afternoon, I commented on the music being played: It was a cover of Michael Jackson's "Ben" which always reminds me of singing it at primary school.  This then led to an exchange on music tastes, and an exchange of our names.  And then I asked the Fuel coffee lady what I've been wondering for nearly three months:  "What's tattooed on your arm?"  You can't miss the tattoo - its tattooed on her forearm in very stylised writing.  I'm sure she's been asked this several times, but I've always been too "shy" to actually ask, even though its intrigued me.

Her answer was " Because sometimes we both loose our minds to find a better road".  She then explained this was a line from a song by the Poison, but originally came from Alice in Wonderland, and she had it tattooed a couple of months ago when she was making the decision whether or not to come to Wellington.  That was the short version.  I'm sure there is a longer version.  I've only got a week to get it, but I think I will!

I said: "I know, that quote", I really like Alice in Wonderland too!    Then I told her how this was one of my favourite quotes:

“One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. Which road do I take? she asked. Where do you want to go? was his response. I don't know, Alice answered. Then, said the cat, it doesn't matter.”

True story: I once used the above quote in a presentation that got me a job a few years back.   In fact I've used it a few time in presentations, and made it work.   It has turned out to be more true than I thought/knew at that time in terms of my own personal journey.

It reminded me about another thing I like about cycling - it's about finding the road - in more ways than one.

When I got back to my desk, I told my young colleague the story about the tattoo: he looked at me blankly!