A meeting at the coffee shop

in the shopping centre?
Yes, why not? It's a good central place for the three of us to meet and discuss a project in pleasant surroundings.
I pedalled up to the shopping centre yesterday afternoon for just such a meeting. It was an informal meeting, a preliminary to talking to a much bigger group about a proposed 2019 project. Yes, we do need to think that far ahead.
I had suggested we needed to talk because of the time line another group will be working to and the person who is in overall charge had suggested the coffee area in the middle of the shopping centre. They have tables there and the staff who run it are tolerant of small meetings being held there. 
Papers out, pens out, an i-pad open...and we were away. And then.... "Hello..."
We stopped for several minutes. Oh yes, they could see we were working. Thankfully it wasn't for too long.
And then, "That's Middle Cat...."
"Don't," I said, "You know how she likes to talk."
"It's all right. She's with someone else. Has she broken her arm?"
"No, she had a shoulder replacement."
We had an interruption from Middle Cat. Fortunately the person she was with wanted her (very late) lunch. They went and sat elsewhere.
Someone came up  behind the person I was sitting next to...her husband. They greeted one another warmly - after all they hadn't seen one another for at least a couple of hours. He was off to the gym.
       "I'll be back a bit later,"  he told her.
Her daughter and granddaughter passed by and said hello as well. Several people I knew passed by and might well have come and said hello too but they just smiled and waved. Perhaps they did see those papers spread out and decided not to interrupt? Despite all that we actually achieved a lot. Decisions were made. Tasks were divided up between us. 
It made me remember yet again that, although I live in a city, our little part of it is more like the village it once was. Many people have lived here for generations. Their children and grandchildren go to the same schools they did. They have met in the library, the churches, in the clubs, and on the oval. And they meet in the shopping centre over coffee.