It was a busy Wednesday early evening in July 2008, and the IFI cafe was hopping, and we both found ourselves awkwardly sharing a table beside the stairs. Not much was said until Joan asked me to hold her seat while she went out to get her cinema ticket and have a cigarette, at which point I asked if I could join her. The café was full by this point and we both realized that in order to have our table reserved we needed to order some food first. We both ordered falafels, an easy decision for both of us, and off we went to the open area, bonded by the delight at this achievement as the place was humming, and keeping a seat seemed impossible.
By closing time we'd sampled the falafels, and moved to one of the tables outside for a pint. We had abandoned any ideas of seeing a film, and realized there were so many parallels and things we had in common. For us, all roads led to the IFI, and we both wanted to meet up again. It was two weeks later that we eventually got to see a film together. It was a French film but neither of us can remember the name! For the last few years we have made a point of having some food in the IFI Café Bar and going to look at a film on our anniversary. We got married last year and this year we skipped the film again and brought our six month old son with us instead! Happy days.
Tim and Joan
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