see them so nobody gets lost. Leslie
and I soon found ourselves trapped
in traffic mid-block with nowhere to
move.
We managed to work our way up
to Brian, stopped a little way ahead
of us, and explained the situation.
We were hot, tired and only a short
distance from our hotel, so he gave
us general directions and sent us
on ahead while he doubled back to
search for the missing One of Our
Number. We got as far as a crowd-
ed roundabout and became unsure
which exit to take. A passer-by was
unhelpful, never having heard of the
Villa Garden, and we were about to
take a guess and keep going when I
spied a sign right on the roundabout
not 100 metres ahead of where we
had asked for help.
The Villa Garden is a delightful old
midtown mansion turned into a hotel
and restaurant. An hour or more lat-
TRAVERSE 80
er, after we had checked in, freshened
up, gone to the bar and were enjoying
our second round, in straggled Brian
with the prodigal son in tow.
He had somehow taken a wrong
turn at one of the roundabouts and
his cell phone had gone dead. Per-
haps a wee bit embarrassed, the prod-
igal began ordering triples – to the
point we had to surreptitiously wave
off the waitress at dinner. Oh well, all
is well that ends well, right?