Ambience Retreat

It was one of those meetings I looked forward to, but as the discussions unfolded I could feel a pounding headache collapsing onto me.

I doodled. Fidgeted. And wished I ordered a drink before the start of the meeting.

It got to the point where I felt that my brains were blanking out and I could not adequately process the options we had to consider and make decisions on.

When it ended, my colleague and I decided we needed comfort food. A lunch retreat.

So we drove out. To Pietrasanta. An Italian chef seated next to me on that Qantas flight recommended that place.

That's when I realised that ambience itself can calm and relax me. Even when I wasn't particularly impressed with the food nor the service*. With sound of the rain beating onto the colonial roof, I sat and admired the soothing colours of the light wooden furniture, the heights of the sloping ceiling, and the artwork on the walls.

(*But they are new, so I would give them a try again in a couple of months' time.)