A Dinner Date

Plumber wanted to see me again. He suggested that we should go out for dinner. I mentioned that I would need to feed my boys first. Plumber insisted that he would provide pizza and chips for them as he was taking their mother out. So on his way home from work he stopped at Asda and had two of the biggest pizzas they have seen made up for them along with two big bags of steak cut chips.

An hour later he was back to pick me up for our third date so this is date 3 with guy one = date 5 in total.

We drove to the converted Mill where I had enjoyed my cup of tea with guy 3 a few days earlier. While Plumber ordered our drinks I found us a table. Soon after he joined me at the table I saw a family group arrive, the mother was someone I knew when I was 18 back in Kent. She looks just the same as she always did, just older. It was a shock to realise that her two children who I last saw as junior school children are now almost grown up. Her daughter was born just a week or so before OJ in the same hospital so she is now 18. We chatted for a minute before my friend joined her family. (I have worked out that it has been about 7 years since I last saw my friends.) Later my friend's husband arrived, although he must now be 50 he doesn't look any different now than the last time I saw him. They were both part of a group of friends I hung around with when in my early adult years. Later when I moved to this part of the country I was amazed to find them already here and even more amazed when he became the head master of my son's junior school.

I really enjoyed the grilled sole followed by profiteroles (I couldn't finish mine though). During our meal Plumber realised that he knew one of the people at the next table and had a conversation with them. I guess that is one of the things about eating out in a local restaurant, you meet people you know. We hadn't finished the bottle of red wine Plumber had bought when we arrived so we took that back with us to his house.

We sat watching tv as we drank our wine, we discussed the news items that we saw. By the time the news was over my glass was empty so we made our way upstairs to bed. In the morning after a few kisses and cuddles we both dressed and he drove me back home ready for work. Its a long time since I used to drive home at 6am.

Guy three

Guy three date one (date 4)

I had been chatting to Golf on and off for days, he is a professional man with his own business, just a few years older than me. We share a similar sense of humour. He doesn't have a photo on his profile but he emailed one to me during our first IM chat. He isn't the best looking guy but looks are not everything.

When we decided to go for a drink he left me with a bit of a dilema. You see I had a choice, either I could drive to meet him or he could pick me up from where ever I chose. Normally on a first date I prefer to drive myself there. I feel safer, more in control if I have my own transport. But what is a girl to do when faced with the option of a ride in an X type Jaguar. (I have become obsessed with Jags in the last 9 months, just ask Mei).

So against my normal instincts I opted for a lift in his jag.

At the appointed time I was standing on the corner of the road when he rang to say he was running 10 minutes late. It was chilly so I nipped back inside to get my gloves. In the end he was nearer 20 minutes late. He confessed that he is always late for everything. There was classical music playing quietly as we travelled towards the local posh hotel (where premiership football teams stay when they are in this part of the country). There were few people in the bar where we enjoyed our large glasses of wine. We didn't really flirt much or even joke but kept up a stready stream of conversation as we discussed a myriad of topics. I'm not keen on the centipede he appears to have nestling on his upper lip, but who am I to comment a this stage of the game.

After we had downed our second glass of red wine he suggested we find somewhere to get a coffee. He paid our drinks tab which was £30+ (for just 4 drinks). We headed back towards town stopping at a local converted Mill for a much needed coffee. As it turned out the coffee machine had already been turned off. So whilst I enjoyed my cup of tea he settled for an orange juice. We were probably only there for half an hour.

When we stopped at the end of my road he kissed me. He was very amused at my exclamation of mmmmm nice! (We have since argued about how many mmms there were in my mmmmm).

Several kisses later we said good night and I left him to drive away.

For this date I wore my soft brown flared skirt, stockings and brown heels with a cerise v necked sweater.

Killed by BT

The last few days have been a bit of a challenge and I do like a good challenge don't you?

For the last few days we have been two people down in our sales team. This might not sound much but when there are only five of us in the first place that is 40% of our team. It has been hard work but I have enjoyed it. We have been busy but the atmosphere has been good.

Each time I walk towards my house at the end of the day I find myself looking at the cherry tree in my front garden. It was a fully grown tree that had already been cut back before we moved here 12 years ago. Two years ago before I returned to work my mum paid a passing tree surgeon to cut back my tree and the hedge behind it. I was a little worried that my tree would suffer but although not as good as previous years we did have blossom. Then in December 2007 we had problems with our telephone line. BT announced that the problem was the roots of the hedge attacking the underground cable. They dug a trench across my garden so they could bury a new cable within a plastic pipe. Eventually our telephone line was restored.

Last year I noticed that we only had a few leaves on our tree, I was hoping that it was just a temporary set back and this year would be better. Now at the end of March I have noticed that whilst everything else has new shoots, buds and young leaves, my tree has nothing. It is obvious that my tree has not survived the trauma of being attacked by BT. They must have cut through the roots. Now I need to decide what to do about my naked dying tree.

I have also decided that this year I am going to clear my back garden of not just the rubbish that is slowly dwindling but also the brambles and nettles. Once the ground is clear I want to dig up all the grass and lay paving slabs. I have not come by this decision lightly. True it will remove the need to mow the lawn which I find difficult to persuade my boys to do although I feel it shouldn't be a problem for them. But my main reason is that with my house being a mid terrace we are shaded on both sides so that the ground does not get much sun. This means that we need at least a week of dry weather before we can cut the grass. If I don't have the time before it rains we have to wait until the next time we have at least a week of good weather. Last summer I only managed to cut the grass two times instead of at least once every two weeks. Without the shade of my cherry tree my front lawn should dry out quicker if not next year it will get the same treatment.

Complaint

Ok I concede

I had an ear bashing over the phone.
Then I come on here during my lunch break to find my dear friend Fire has also called me a tease.

Both because I have only posted about my first and second dates before subjecting you to tales of my mum's knee instead of more tales of my dates.

So here is a brief update for you on date two with guy one = date 3 over all.

He had arrive home late from work so when I arrived outside his house 10 minutes earlier than arranged he wasn't ready for me. Before parking up I rang him to make sure I was outside the right house. He was still in the bath!! He confirmed that I was at the right place and told me to park up on the driveway.

Plumber was concerned about greeting me at the door dressed in only a towel but if I could wait a few minutes he would dress. I assured him that it would be a first for me to be greeted by a man in a towel. So he agreed to do just that.

Don't worry it wasn't a hand towel, his modesty was well covered as we sat on his sofa chatting and drinking red wine. This is becoming a habit (drinking red wine that is). I don't know how long we had been chatting before he leaned in for the first kiss. I am sure you don't want to know the rest or what time I got home!!

Oh nearly forgot, brown skirt, orange top, brown shoes and stockings.

for those nosy so and so's who want more info it is posted elsewhere you just need to know where to look although there is a clue or two on my side bar hee hee

I don't suppose

I was thinking about my third date and what to tell you. But I don't suppose you really want to know about that so I thought I had better tell you about something else instead. But what do you want to hear about?

Do you want to hear about my mum going to see yet another specialist to try to get to the bottom of her problems with walking now that her knee is fixed. Although her knee is now working she still has problems with the foot of that leg, but then she was dragging that foot for years before the knee problems. I personally think it all has something to do with her Multiple Sclerosis. The next specialist is a neurologist.

I don't suppose you want to know about my aging grandmother who aged 90 still lives alone in a village in The Cotswolds and still drives short distances. she has been getting phonecalls from people she doesn't know and she is getting confused because she thinks they want her to sell something but she doesn't know what. My mum has made her promise not to let anyone into the house without getting her neighbour to be with her first. My aunt lives in Berlin, so whilst both my mum and my dad's cousin in London are the two relatives who worry the most about my grandmother I am the nearest next of kin. So between the three of us we are going to try to set up an emergency strategy for my grandmother in the absence of her only living child.

Work was very hectic today, the lemon chewer went home sick leaving me to cope on my own. I quite enjoy that as I relish the challenge even if I did go without a lunch break. I found out today that Paulo and his family are going to be giving up their business in a year's time. That will be such a pity, not only because we will all miss them as people but also it is a very good account and growing. That will all change now but at least I know I will still be in contact with him if I wish.

I don't think I told you that we had some changes in our office and now I am no longer directly responsible for Scotland, but I am now the official office contact for half the Sales Mangers and Agents. I have set myself a huge project so discover which accounts could be made more profitable and getting my Sales Reps to do more work.

Oh and of course there are still three men in my life right now plus one or two who would like to be.

Date one with guy two = date 2

Pete was on his way home from a business meeting in Bristol so we arranged to meet for an early drink before he went home. He text me when he was setting out and again when he arrived at the village square where we were planning to meet. We hadn't decided which of the pubs to go to but agreed to meet in the car park and see which we fancied. I rang him when I was leaving home so that he knew I would be there in under 10 minutes.

When I arrived he met me beside my car which I had managed to accidentally park outside one of the pubs, it seemed that was the obvious choice. He looked very smart in his business suit which he had earlier apologised about. After ordering our drinks at the bar we took a seat on one of the comfy sofas close by.

we chatted easily, there was plenty to chat about not least one of his sons goes to the same college as OJ. Pete is a good looking, intelligent man but there was no spark between us. His work takes him all over the place meaning that meeting regularly would not be easy.

We have agreed that we won't meet again as he feels it would mean I would have a lot of waiting to do between dates. He is not very local to me although he lives within 20 miles from me.

For date number two I wore a loose low cut orange top, my soft brown flared skirt, stockings and my designer shoes that I bought from ebay last summer.

date one with guy one

Trixie asked if I was going to take on dani's role whilst she is away.



Dani (cheekydani to those who don't know) is currently back home in Australia but usually resides in London. For some months now dani has been dating guys partly to find her 'Mr right' but also as a challenge to date 80 guys or was that have 80 dates.



Anyway with my recent spate of dates Trixie wondered if I would be taking on the 80 date challenge. she was doing it herself for a while last year until she ran out of time to date. come on Trixie you can start again now, you can join me on the challenge.



So here goes the first date with guy one



A former Army PT instructor plumber is rather sweet. We had been chatting quite a bit over the weekend before meeting for a drink on the Monday evening. I text to say I was running late but he was ok about it and was waiting for me in the car park. Once inside the pub we sat and chatted quite easily as we drank our red wine followed by soft drinks as we were both driving. (forgive me if I have already told you about this date). Half way through the evening I suggested that he sit beside me instead of staying on the far side of the table. He didn't need telling twice.



For some reason the pub shut really early (before 10.30pm) but we managed to hang on until we were the last to be thrown out. As we made our way out he suggested we continue chatting in his car. By this time the rain had started, we watched the wind in the trees, a young fox as it crept along the side of a hedge until it was close enough to see that it was actually a cat. He had been the perfect gentleman all evening. Until his announcement that he was going to kiss me.



Maybe it was all the pent up passion having gone so long since my last proper kissing session. We kissed each other a few times, before passion over took us and we were soon snogging very enthusiastically. He told me that I am a very good kisser. Before too long the seats were adjusted to give us more room as we kissed and groped each other. (It had been a long time for both of us). His mum kept texting to see when he would be home (he is staying with her for the moment as he is still paying mortgage on his old home).



Eventually I decided it was time to go home (not wearing a watch I had no idea what the time was) when I turned on the engine of my own car it was already 1.20pm.



Plumber is very easy to chat to and kissing is great too. He is very fit and promises or should that be threatens to get me fitter too. Although he has no complaints about me as I am he knows I am not happy with my shape. He is very sweet and texts me often, he also chats online he doesn't call me by my name he calls me 'sweetie', not sure how I feel about that.



In true dani fashion I wore a flared black skirt ith a beaded belt with a deep purple sleeveless top with black beads on the shoulders, a deep v neck with ruffles flowing from the neckline, with black stockings and my black beaded shoes over my top I wore my leather look jacket.

Please help Fire Byrd

Since I have been blogging I have made many friends in the blog world, many I will never meet but others I have become friends with in the real world. One of these friends is Fire Byrd. Right now she needs help. So I am asking my friends to help her.

Fire Byrd has been interviewed by Blog Interviewer .com she is in competition against several other bloggers. She needs us to vote for her blog. The blogger who has the most votes at the end of March wins $50. Ok so why would you want to help someone you don't know to win $50?

Fire Byrd doesn't want this money for herself. She wants this money for others. But rather than me telling you about it, I would like you to go here to her blog to find out about the children she wants to help.

But if you are willing to help a good cause but don't want to visit my friend Fire Byrd's blog you could go here to vote for her blog. But be careful because it is very easy to vote no by accident.

4 dates in 4 days

Just a brief note to let you know that I have been a busy bee and now I am a tired busy bee.
I have had 3 dates this week and am being taken out for dinner tonight.

I shall spill some of the beans when I have more time and more energy.

googlemail

I have been having a battle with googlemail.

I have two googlemail accounts (I won't go into the whys now).

There is the one that I set up several years ago when I opened my first blog on blogger. I very rarely look at it or use it in any way other than it allows me to use blogger. For most of the last couple of years I even forgot that I have such an account. Then for reasons of privacy I set up a new googlemail account to use for email without involving my usual email accounts that show my name.

Having opened this new account I either forgot the password or some other such device as I couldn't access the account for a few months. About a month ago when I was playing around with things on my laptop I managed to access my new google a/c. I answered the few emails that were gathering dust there. Got a few replies and have since kept this account live.

However this is having an adverse effect on my blogging. I read one of my favourite blogs, write a comment try to publish the comment only to discover that even though my computer has been turned off I am still logged into the wrong account. I lose the comment I was leaving,while I try in vain to switch accounts. The option to switch never ever works. This even happens on my own blog. So if you have been wondering why I have not been visiting you, I have, I have even tried to leave comments but to no avail. All I can do is go into the googlemail sign out and try again.

Having spent a couple of years not having to sign out of googlemail every time I turn off my computer, I am finding it hard to remember to do this now.

drinking on my soap box

In the media they have been talking about government plans to introduce minimum prices for alcohol. I can understand the idea behind this is to cut binge drinking in England.



Personally I don't agree with this idea. The theory is good but theories like this don't work when applied to humans. The idea that if alcohol costs more then binge drinkers will drink less is very good as a theory. In practice it will only work on those who don't drink heavily. Those of us who are light drinkers will probably drink less especially in this current economic climate. This will result in pubs losing business and many will close. Presently the UK sees 22 pubs close every week. In my own neighboorhood I know of several that have closed and even been knocked down in the last few years.



The group of drinkers that the government is trying to target will not stop drinking because the price has gone up. They will probably moan about the new prices. They might even declare that they will drink less because of it. But the reality is that they drink because they have a chemical imbalance in their bodies, they can't function without the alcohol. These people will still drink the same quantities of alcohol, they will still be a burden on our health and police systems. What they will do is buy the alcohol even though it costs them more but to pay for the increase they will reduce what they spend on other things, clothes, food, utility bills, perhaps even their mortgage/rent.



Those who will be affected the most by the increased prices are the long suffering families of the heavy drinkers. The families who will be left with even less money to manage on. The mothers who can't buy clothes or food for their children, the families who have to wear a coat to bed because they can't afford to heat their home.



The government is trying to treat the illness of alcoholism the same way it treats obesity from the wrong end. Instead of stopping people from eating or drinking by way of taxes or threats they should be tackling the problems that cause these illnesses in the first place. I don't have all the answers to the problems we as a society have, if I did I would be a politician, but I do know that these current proposals are wrong.

Out Cold

The rain had started before I left home. I text to say I was running late, but managed to get there just 10 minutes late in the end. I had been there a few times with Mr Green.

My date for the night was already there waiting. I didn't need to look for him as I saw a man getting out of his car as soon as I had parked.

A glass of red wine later (£8+ for 2 glasses !!) we chatted together easily. All too soon the pub was shutting. We finally got thrown out about 10.50pm. He suggested that we sit and chat in his car for a while. His was nearer to the door than mine and by then it was raining quite hard.

I don't know how long we had been chatting when out of the blue he announced.

'Now I need to kiss those'

That confused me because I wasn't sure what he meant by 'those'.

It turned out to be my lips. So I let him kiss me and then I kissed him. After that it got a bit confusing as to who was kissing who as we got a little carried away and with the windows steamed up and the car park lights now off there wasn't much light. During the kissing he started getting text messages. Apparently from his mother, who he is currently living with since he left his home. She must have been getting quite bothered as the text messages kept arriving at intervals. By the time he drove me to my car I discovered that it was 1.30am. I left him clearing his windows while I drove home to my cold house.

We had run out of gas on sunday night, I had left money with the card for the boys to get some on Monday, they didn't bother so I got some before I went out. The gas was put on the meter but nobody had bothered to turn the gas back on!! So when I got in from my night out I was freezing and I was still freezing in the morning until I had gone down stairs to lie flat on my stomach with my hands under the gas fire pushing and pressing buttons that I couldn't see to get the gas boiler relit. By the time my family had got up the house was warm again.

My date (Plumber) an ex army PT instructor had text me 3 times by lunchtime. He is making plans for our next date, that is if I can fit him in what with Golf and Pete trying to arrange dates as well as Thomas very eager to see me again.

I can see clearly now

Today I made another trip into town. First a visit to the bank to pay in a cheque. Can you believe I actually got a refund from the gas company after I changed my supplier. It is true they sent me a final bill that showed I was in credit. I rang them to ask how they were going to pay me back but the girl I spoke to didn't know what to do. This week I received the cheque.

Next stop the opticians

I now have my two pairs of glasses one for reading and computer work

and one for distance.

When is a joke not a joke

I would like to let my friends know that I appreciate their concern really I do.

But my last post was meant to be a light hearted one following the previous few that had been full of agony and feeling old. Obviously my attempt to be light hearted and make a few tongue in cheek jokes ie about checking my phone have back fired. I promise I wont do it again!

I appreciate that the written word doesn't always allow the reader to see that the writer is not being serious in everything they write but I did think my friends would recognise my sense of humour. I know my sense of humour passes some people by but then I guess I am sometimes deaf to the humour of others.

So I guess that sometimes a joke is not a joke to those who read it.

My motto for a long time has been ...............A day without laughter is a day wasted.

laughter

Earlier in the week I was fretting over Kama.

I had let him know that I want to spend some time with him. I am enjoying the friendship we have built up but I don't want a relationship based around our phones and compters, after all I have been there done that got the T-shirt big style. (no I didn't say that).

He hasn't made any comment whatsoever about this but had continued the usual text messages until Monday evening. I decided to back off let him show me just how interested he is, I planned that I would go back to my original tactic of only replying to him when he had contacted me. I refused to initiate contact until he had. All day on Tuesday I waited (ok not all day as I was asleep for much of it) but there was no text nor email. It didn't matter how many times I checked there was nothing!!

By the evening I was fretting, had I pushed him to much, is it too early to put any pressure on him to decide if he wants to see me again!! Ok so we have only met twice but it has been 2 1/2 months since he contacted me. I was the one not sure if I was ready for someone new in my life. As hard as it was going to be I was backing off.

Wednesday I wanted to let him know that we had made the trip to warwick without incident but I managed to resist. I put my phone on silent (not even my normal vibrate mode) while I put my attention into finding out about this highly regarded place of learning that my son favoured above all his other choices. After the second lecture I pulled my phone from my pocket to glance at the time (I have not worn a watch much since about November). There were two text from Kama. The second I could see immediately was a joke. But the first was the one that interested me. I read it quickly with relief, then again later with more time to digest what it said.

Now it was clear why I hadn't heard from him the previous day. His daughter had been feeling very ill with severve stomach pains, he had ended up taking her to hospital in the middle of the night. This morning he text me again to say that his daughter had had an operation last night. She must have been in a very bad way. As a parent I can understand how his concern for his daughter must have taken him over.

When I left work tonight I text him that I was leaving work if he fancied a chat, I expected that he would be driving home from his appointments. He had earlier told me that he had just gone past Swindon. He had been already driven along the A34 less than 24 hours after I had been driving that same way. I had heard on my radio that there was snow along there this morning. But when he rang me (I was already half way home) he had just left home and was going to visit his daughter in hospital, we were in effect driving in opposite directions and would pass each other.

Stupid woman that I am, I kept half an eye on the other carriageway looking out for his car. Stupid because he had just told me that he was still driving the curtesy car he had whilst his car was being repaired following the slight collision another car had with him on the first morning of heavy snow last month. It was as always lovely to chat to him as we drove, making each other giggle just seems to come naturally. We both arrived at our destinations at the same time, having given each other a running progress report of where we were.

For now I am content to let things continue as they are for a while longer. I know that the six nations rugby will soon be over, I also know that in a few weeks his son will be going off to sea for a few months leaving him home alone apart from visits from his daughter. In the meantime I am enjoying his texts and calls. But I am going to try to let hm be the first to make contact each day. Besides the memory on my phone has been getting full and needs to be cleared out.

Torture

What I didn't say about feeling old on saturday was that as I walked along the main shopping street in town to buy yet another school tie for my little angel who doesn't seem to be able to keep hold of this important part of his uniform. I was seriously hobbling, every single step taken resulted in a searing pain in my right buttock. I gather I must have damaged the muscle, I am not sure how or when but it was bloody painful!!

On Sunday I took Et and JA swimming for 1 1/2 hours, after which the pain in my buttock was reduced to an ache. Progress!! But on Monday at work everytime I got up from my desk to walk anywhere I was back to hobbling in agony although as the day passed the hobbling improved and the pain was reduced slightly. Tuesday when I woke up and staggered to the bathroom I became aware that I was not in any more pain in my buttock or hip. But maybe this was down to the overriding pain in my head. I had one of the most excruciating headaches, so I informed PB (by text)that I had a migrain, then spent the day sleeping it off. As usual I came back to life around 7pm. I had been concerned that I might not be fit to drive to Warwick today.

So here we are on wednesday already and to my delight no headache and just an ache in my hip. The forcast had been for rain possibly snow!! I did consider taking my fleece throw and caterpillar boots just in case. I had been keeping an ear out for the travel news as we would be taking A34 which is often bad for accidents. But today it seemed to be clear, we left home at 10am and arrived at warwick at 12.00. All the car parks were full so we were directed to park on the perimeter road. The first space we found was at the furthest point away fron the main part of the campus with the maths building (very modern) at the furthest point on the opposite side of the campus.

It was pleasant to walk past the ponds with swans, geese and other water fowl including but by the time we reached the main part of the campus I was really struggling. Now I really did feel like an old woman. By the time we reached the maths building I couldn't wait to sit down but we had to stand around for 20 minutes before we could get into the first lecture hall. I did enjoy the lecture involving soapy water and perspex sheets then lots of triangles with funny shaped snooker tables. The lecturer made everything seem so simple and I refuse to admit that he was rather sexy!! This was followed by another lecture in a smaller lecture hall where I ended up leaning against the rear wall trying to get comfortable as a post graduate taught us about space travel using gravitational slingshot.

Following this second lecture we had our campus tours, this time I was in a small group of just 6 parents. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up but suprisingly I made it although in the latter part of the walk I was again struggling. But luckily two of the dads were chatting so walking slower I was able to keep up with them!! Who knew men multi tasking could help me out? Finally we returned to the maths building for another lecture, I should have wated for OJ but I just had to sit down so I found us a couple of seats and waited there.

This last lecture was more about the University and the maths courses ending with some samples of questions from an extended paper the students will need to take before they can be accepted. To me it looked like a group of ants had clustered on the black boards (they actually still use proper chalk boards with the same wooden board cleaners they sed when I was at school !!) I certainly couldn't make any sense of what was shown. But OJ came up with the right answer even if he was afraid to say so because he thought he was wrong. I am proud of him.

The long walk back to the car was torture with every step. OJ could have walked to the car and back to the campus in the time it took me hobble to my car. When I did finally reach the car I had to sit a while to allow my feet to stop hurting before I could manage the long drive home. 257 miles round trip. No more Universities to visit now thank heavens.