Two hours on foot, no destination

It wasn’t a meeting. Not sport, not an occasion, not “we need to talk”. Just a message in the afternoon: Have you got time? Then two hours through streets neither of us had chosen.

At first you talk about the obvious. Work, the weather, someone you both know. Eventually it gets quieter. Not awkward. Just quiet. The pace sets the rhythm, not the topic.

What remains when nothing is planned

A lot of meet-ups now need a reason. Food. Training. An event. If it goes badly, the evening was still “used”. Without a destination that drops away. You notice sooner whether you can stand each other — and whether you like each other even when nothing is happening.

We ended up by a river, stood for a moment, kept walking. No big scene. When we split it was clear: we can do that again. Not because it was productive. Because it felt like real life.