Monday 15th February
There has been a lot of speculation around what actually happened and still this story continues to baffle the minds of professionals. People have named the phenomenon …The Day we waited for Kofi. Forget about that fact we never actually got to Lille and that we queued and queued only to find out that we wouldn’t go anywhere. The main event of the day was waiting for Kofi. The meeting point was St. Pancras station, 7:30am with Ruby and Tom Dyckhoff. Coincidentally, Naomi and I meet on the tube and was then evacuated away from Kings Cross due to a suspected fire, then proceeded to make our way back to the danger zone where it was then given the all clear. In hindsight, it seems like this day was not meant to happen, but anyway. Ruby then did a call around to check the location of all the other Pioneers and apparently, everyone was almost there. Seen, as we had to spare Tom, I thought it was necessary to start our day right so headed to a notorious chain store beginning with S to get our fix of coffee. When we rejoined the group Antony, Benas and Michael had arrived but no sign of Kofi. Ruby was assured that he was 10 minutes away and so we waited. Sometime later, Ruby called Kofi and was told that he would not be much longer, well we waited… waited and-d waited. Finally, we decided to give Kofi a 10 minute ultimatum or else we would definitely miss the train. We had to rush past check-in and customs, with some pretty evasive security guards. Everyone, besides me was reluctant to leave without Kofi being there, to be fair I was stern as he lives reasonably close but Michael being the loyal friend that he is risked his trip to Lille to go back for Kofi. Eventually, the search and rescue was called off when 1hr and 6minutes later Kofi arrived and as fresh faced as ever, whilst I was still getting over my very earlier start. Why he was late was is a mystery within itself! I have heard three different stories, depending on whom you talk to. All I know was that he woke up 5:30 and got dressed. Went back to sleep. Went to Mc Donald’s and had a meal. Got on a bus going the wrong way, was lost, and then finally made it to the station. If anything, it was hilarious day and I look forward to Lille trip II.