It was a dark and stormy night. The lights flickered as I worked on my computer.
“Damn” I said out loud to no one on particular. “This is the last thing I need…” and grumbled softly to the empty office.
It was slightly later than usual and yet earlier in the year than I was expecting this particular twist in my life to take. Things are always changing, and that should just be expected but this was a little weird and just slightly unsettling. It was a big change and it was forcing me to make alterations to my life I hadn’t expected to have to make.
The lights flickered again as a flash of lightening lit the sky. Sighing, I logged off, shut everything down and unplugged my main storage unit computer from the wall. This was getting me nowhere so I pulled the laptop out and worked on battery power.
“You know you want to…” was the subject of the email. While this usually meant spam, I happened to know the sender and so stared at the email. It could only mean one thing. I didn’t want to think about what it meant.
April. It was a beautiful April and I was married. I was happily married and my poor, long-suffering husband was about to lose me for yet another week to conferences and work. As the rain poured down ever harder, I considered what the contents of the email contained.
That this was an invitation was a given but the question was, an invitation to what. I thought back to the last time I had seen him. Nothing unusual had been mentioned but so much time had passed this time it was hard to think what it might mean.
We had joked that Amsterdam was a city of sex and drugs, neither of which ever appealed to me but had to him and thus while I had never visited, he had quite a bit. Here I was, on the edge of a work trip there and he had mercilessly teased me as a result. “We both know what you’ll be doing in the coffee shops there kiddo” he said with half a smile.
“Ya, drinking coffee and trying to figure out if the baked goods are safe!” I retorted and we both laughed.
So here it was – an email with the subject “you know you want to” emblazoned across it and the prospect of a trip to Amsterdam in front of me. Did I? Could he know me better than myself? Did I secretly harbour some deep desire only someone that close and yet distant could see?
I ignored it and checked my itinerary – 9:30am the first day I was speaking on “International SEO” then I had to work the rest of the day and the next until I spoke on paid search. That this was at the Affiliates4U conference was interesting – it had become the alt.seo.con with some of the biggest names in the industry speaking at it. At about half the cost of SMX London, and with a dedicated search track that was always full to capacity, A4U Expo was an alternative search conference with 10% off using code SPK10 for search folk.
I kept ignoring it as I investigated the AAC itinerary. This conference also had a significant SEO track and was happening immediately following A4U. Both these conferences was what had brought me to travel to Amsterdam and the email.
I looked at it again. I had procrastinated some more by checking my KLM flight baggage allowance and found it slightly wanting but not unmanageable. I had a couple of suits to bring plus more comfy clothes.
The email stared at me.
I stared back at it.
I got up, went to the kitchen and got myself a cup of tea. What could be in it? It began to plague me. I started dreaming up possible contents and as each got less and less likely and more and more lewd, I walked up the stairs and sat back down at my office desk.
I opened the email.
After such a delay, and the endless possibilities of what could be in it I couldn’t believe the actual contents when I read it. In fact, I believe my jaw dropped. I’m not sure but I may have made an audible sound. The shock was simply too great.
The email was opened – there on the screen where anyone could see it. The email entitled “you know you want to…” had it’s contents brazenly splashed across the screen. It had given up its secret with nothing more than a click of a mouse.
The email had much to say and yet nothing I didn’t already know. I must have because it didn’t seem at all strange.
It told of the SMX London conference and 15% discount using code JULIEUK15 in May and its team-mate eMetrics also with a whopping 15% off using code SEOCH15 and suggested I go and we meet for a drink beforehand.
Nothing more.
How dull!
