A very long day

After my late night drinking tea with Plumber I really needed to get an early night on Saturday but that wasn't to be. I had gone to bed and was just about to turn off my laptop when Plumber came online. We discussed where I would leave my car while I was off on my travels. I was meeting my colleague Cathy at my local rail station at 7am. (I must be mad!!). I had planned to park in a street not far from the station but Plumber was sure the station car park would be free on a Sunday. By the time we had finished chatting and I had checked out the car park situation it was gone 1am. Not clever considering I needed to be getting up at 5am.

When I arrived at the station at 6.45am Cathy was already there. Her first comment was that we were both wearing purple and black, my black trouser suit, purple blouse and accessories and her black and purple dress. Little did we know that when we eventually joined Boss Lady at the exhibition stand she would also be in black suit and purple patterned blouse.

We made good time arriving at the NEC at 9am but still had a long slow drive snaking along the road between the many car parks until we were directed to a parking space. We then climbed on board a bus (I was going to say jumped on but that would give an impression of fitness that isn't there). Hanging on for dear life as the bus swung us this way and that (it was standing room only when we got on). We were deposited outside the main entrance to one set of halls (luckily our hall was close by). A few minutes later we were checking out the floor plan to see where we should be. After 10 minutes of walking around in circles we were back checking the plan again. It still took a while searching before we found our stand.

I enjoyed the day talking to both current and prospective customers as well as meeting suppliers. (Thats something I don't normally get involved with as I am on the sales side of the business). It was very different meeting people face to face instead of speaking on the phone. Being cheeky and familiar with men I have never met before was fun as was showing off my memory for names etc.

The plan had been for me to catch the train home at 15.14 but it soon became apparent that that wasn't going to happen. In stead I set off for the station at 16.00 my poor feet hurting with every step made progress slow, it didn't help that I had no idea how far it was to the station, its all very well looking at a map.

On arriving at the station I rumaged in my bag for my ticket before looking at the board to find my train. Looking at the arrivals board there was no sign of my train. Not suprising really as the clock was now showing 16.15 damn missed it !!! I found a seat and prepared to wait for the next train in another hour. I made my way gingerly on still painful feet down the steps to the platform at 17.00 giving myself 14 minutes of agony standing waiting for the train.

It was with short lived relief that I saw the train pulling into the station. The carriage closest to me was packed, people were piling into the corridor. Walking down the platform I found that each carriage and corridor were the same. I had no choice but to stand in the very last corridor taking up the last standing position. With my feet screaming silently objecting to this further punishment. At least it should be ok once we reach Coventry and other passengers get off.

Coventry came and went yes passengers left the train only to be replaced by others, Leamington Spa was the same, Oxford and Banbury too. Finally after standing for an hour I managed to get a seat when we reached Reading. Squashed into the seat with more people standing in the aisles it was not much more comfortable but at least I could take the weight of my feet at last.

When I booked my ticket I knew that I would have to change at Southampton but it didn't say which of the two stations it was stopping at I needed to change. I chose to get off at the first of the two and yes according to the timetable there would be a train going to my home town in half an hour. It was by now 19.40 my train was due at 20.11. it would be more comfortable to sit in the waiting room. It was until the announcement that the waiting room was closing at 8pm.

Back on the cold dark platform I examined the timetable again as the trains being announced didn't seem to be going in the right direction. According to the lists of times and stations the train at 20.11 would call at my staion but the train that was due then was going in the opposite direction. I crossed to the other platform to await the next train going to Southampton central. Once I arrived there I looked for the next train home, I found the time but not the platform. I settled on a bench to wait, calling DC for a chat. I then checked again for my train discovering that I was on the wrong platform..........I reached the correct platform where my train was waiting, pressed the burron to open the door only to find that the train pulled away without me!

Ok so there would be another in 20 mins and at east now I was at the right station on the right platform! My phone rang unexpectedly, I assumed it would be a family member but it was LV. I told him where I was. He said that if he had known he would have given me a lift home. Isn't he a lovely friend. We had just finished chatting when my train arrived.

I finally arrived home at 21.37 after a very long and tiring yet enjoyable day. I am glad I went but next time I think I will drive myself, it will be quicker and less tiring than going by train.

All change

I had a visit yesterday lunch time from Plumber. I can't remember the last time I saw him (I would have to check back on here to find out). In the mean time he has been in Spain twice (hes been back a week since his last trip) so he is looking rather tanned. He also looked rather shocked but pleased when he saw me.

Did I mention that I had my hair cut two weeks ago and after wearing it in a bob for a few years then letting it grow quite long I have gone back to wearing it short. Very few people (family aside) who I see frequently these days have seen me with short hair before. Somewhere further down my sidebar there is a photo of the new me taken by LV the day after it was cut. (we had been out for lunch in the New Forest). Apparently the new style makes me look younger. One of my friends from my pre marriage life commented on my new picture on face book that I look no different than I did more than 2 years ago............well she can't see the grey hair and wrinkles in that small picture.

My relationship with Plumber has changed in recent months. When it started we agreed to having a casual relationship ........we were not committed to each other and could see others. All very well but he was very jealous if he thought I was seeing anyone else not that I ever talked about it. I knew he really likes me but wasn't prepared to give me any kind of commitment so I felt justified in seeing others without making a thing of it. He used to tell me that he had growing feelings for me.............but that was as far as it goes. Our friendship has grown and I know that I only have to ask and he will do anything for me (if he has time). I know he would be happy to continue to see me on a casual basis although not very often these days, but I ahve made it clear to him that I am nolonger happy with a casual relationship. For me it has to be a committed relationship so I am now looking for a long term relationship again not casual. (although I am not really looking very hard at the moment but just enjoying life as it is).

Life at the moment involves being more into family life. With the two older boys gone (although not for long enough for us to get used to it) the three of us who are left have been spending more time together actually sitting in our livingroom for hours at a time instead of all being in different rooms. This week ET suddenly got in the mood to tidy their bedroom (I had been saying that it was such a mess with clothes all over the floor that I wouldn't go in there). This led to more change. JA has moved into the box room (formerly DC's room). Tv, stereo, and other such things have been moved around and both boys are now quite happy to have a room of their own. With a dozen bin liners lined up in the livingroom full of rubbish/old clothes, this led to a trip to the amenity tip yesterday.

On Thursday evening ET was complaining that the light in his room isn't very bright. (with bunkbeds and a cabin bed in the one room it is a very dark room). He has the brightest (energy saving) light bulb I had, I figured that having an uplighter shade probably doesn't help. The light shade in JA' new room is all bent and scorched so I took the shade from ET's room and put it on JA's room. Now I need to get a new shade for ET , I found that the light fitting is so old that the part the bulb goes into is very brittle and burnt as I was screwing it back on bits were breaking off. After putting JA's shade up I discovered that I couldn't replace the bulb as the metal housing for the bayonet was broken on one side. OK no problem I would get new fittings for both at the weekend.

This is where it is useful to have a Plumber for a friend. Late on Friday night/early saturday morning he came online after a gig. We chatted and I mentioned the light fittings.............in a flash he offered to come over and do them for me and supply the fittings too. (sorry couldn't help myself). Hence he came to see me on a Saturday lunchtime. (he also had a long chat with ET about RAF and Forces life in general ............he was a weapons engineer in Army before becoming a PT instructor).

Finally Student Finance have got their act together. Having applied online for student grants back in April, sending off my documents in May, (receiving them back in July) now in October I received two 'Urgent' emails telling me that I need to send more documents, only they didn't say what. It took several phone calls to find out that they wanted my P60 for 2007/8 but I had sent my P60 for 2008/9. ................It is beyond me why they couldn't have said this on the comp slip that accompanied my documents when they were returned. Why did it take from May until October to tell me they needed a different P60 and even then only after several phone calls from me. DC posted the correct P60 on Monday 12th October on Friday 16th I had two letters addressed to the boys for them to sign and return so that the monay they are getting can be paid. I now have to post OJ's to him so he can sign it and post it again before the threatened postal strike on Thursday/friday. I saw DC for half an hour yesterday so he has done his. I only hope that next year it is all done much quicker.

Not a good way to start the year

Last night as I played with my laptop having watched 'The Queen' on dvd drunk a few baileys and eaten some hot cocktail cheese and onion rolls (you know the ones like sausage rolls). LV came online we chatted for a while, he told me that he felt awful and had been feeling rough when he was visiting friends in the afternoon.

Today he has rung me ...................from the hospital. He has had a minor operation and is being kept in for 4 days. He had been due to have a scan in January as he had been having a few problems. They are keeping an eye on him in case they need to operate under general.

Get well soon LV

Removed

Last night I was removed

When I got home from my weird day at work I came online. I had only been there a few minutes when LV wanted to chat. At the end of the conversation he invited me out for dinner on Saturday evening to cheer me up.

I spent Saturday morning writing a fantasy for Paulo which I then emailed to him. Then I wrote to Romeo telling him how hurt I am that he has become so distant. What I could have done was stayed silent myself and just waited to see how long it would take him to notice. But to my mind that is playing games something I vowed never to do in this relationship. I promised him at the start that if there is ever anything I am not happy about then I will tell him. That way I won't be letting little things fester until they become big problems. So now I have told him that I feel hurt. I have told him that I have been getting attention from elsewhere but he is still the only one I want. I have made my position clear. What I have not done is made any ultimatums.

I feel better for telling him how I feel now it is up to him to make an effort.

Later I went into town to buy new school shoes for JA, to my horror he showed me his shoes earlier in the week one of them only has half the sole left. so I bought him two pairs so that should keep him going for a while until the next time his feet have out grown his shoes. I also got myself a new pair of smart black shoes for work. Even though I didn't get into the shopping centre until 4.40 (they close at 5pm) and didn't venture further than the first half dozen shops I still managed to go in three shops and spend about £50.

Back home a quick chat with LV then off to the chip shop a treat for the boys as I was going out. Little did I know that not only was the shop heaving with customers but they were also doing an order for 40 people!!! this is a small family run shop with one girl serving. But she was taking everyone's orders as she waited for the food to be cooked so it ran quite smoothly, I was quite impressed with the way she managed to keep the orders going.

Back home I dumped the food in the kitchen and told the boys to go sort it themselves while I changed out of my wet joggers into my red skirt, red tights and one of my purchases of the day a new cream blouse with flower shaped glass buttons. I just had time to phone Hector to wish him a happy birthday. It has been a while since we chatted so it was good to catch up with him. Hes leaving his job in January after 28 years. Hes going to be setting up a new venture with a friend and will probably be moving down to London so no excuses we will have to meet up when hes down here. Its nice that we have the kind of friendship that we can go for months with no contact then just pick up where we left off the kind of friendship where we will always be mates. Just for once when I call him Hector on here it is also the name I use for him in RL (not his real name but the name I use anyway it started out as a joke and has continued, no one else ever calls him that).

A few minutes later my lift arrived to carry me away for the evening, I was being removed from my computer. LV is very pleasant company and I feel honoured that he wanted to travel in bad weather to take me out for the evening. We went to the pub where I had lunch with my mum a while ago. It has changed a lot since the days when I went there a lot with my husband and small boys. It has been given a more upmarket ake over but I think it has lost a lot of the character.

The food was ok but not brilliant but we were given the wrong steaks. I had asked for well done but got rare, the first bite was ok a bit pink but when I got to the bit that still had blood in it no thanks that just isn't my cup of tea, so we swapped. When we were asked if everything was ok

LV told the waitress that we had been given the wrong steaks and that the food was tough but he wasn't after a refund of fresh food etc. When the next waitress came to clear away our plates she wanted us to have desserts free of charge but we were both full so declined.

LV wanted to visit my favourite view so we went up onto the hill, with the wind and the rain we couldn't see much, we could see all the lights of the city below but it wasn't easy to pick out anything. After chatting for a while LV drove me back home. There was a surreal moment as we were sat at traffic lights and I was thinking about Romeo, out of the blue LV says 'Do you know where Romeo is now?' We had both noticed a jag drive passed and it had made us both think of Romeo.

When I got in I went up to bed, as I lay there listening to the rain I fired up my laptop which took so long to load that I had just opened an email when I fell asleep. This morning I had too messages saying 'your up late' and 'what are you doing up at this time?' The second one left at 2.23am was from Neptune who I have not spoken to for a few months although I have seen him come and go on msn a few times.

Those men

for those of you who have not been reading my blog for long enough and those who have either forgotten or have become confused here is a quick recap.

A) Harvey ................. very brief fling that lasted 3 days last November. Has since joined the same dating site where I found my Romeo. From time to time we go together to social events organised by the dating site. He also from time to time enlists my help with things like filling in application forms, writing his CV etc. We are just good friends although I am aware that he would never kick me out of bed if I chose to be in his. Knows about Romeo.

B) Neptune ............. started chatting on dating site (same one) last September. Very slow starter but every time I considered giving up he would start chatting again we final met for a drink when I was on my way home from visiting Fire Byrd aka Pixie last December. We continued to chat and text for a while but gradually dwindled out. Every now and then he comes online and chats usually telling me I should go to bed as its getting late.

C)Forest .............. online friend who became lover for a few months last year now friends again. We chat regularly, its good to be mates again. Knows about Romeo, probably still wouldn't kick me out of bed if I chose to go there again.

D)Lotto ................male friend we met once 18 months ago and have flirted ever since. He has been trying to get me to meet him again even though he has a g/f and he knows about Romeo. wouldn't kick me out if bed if I chose to be there.

E) LV ....................Real life, met through work but now friends. He took me to Goodwood festival of Speed, has talked about going out for a meal. I am aware that he likes me, but he knows about Romeo.

F) Someone else .....................Difficult one this, any man I have flirted with in recent months knows about Romeo. (Theres no harm in flirting is there?)

Red and Yellow

Where to start

Traffic on the way to Goodwood was pretty much stop start for milesBut we eventually arrived at about 11am then cam the long walk from the carpark, first making a mental note of where we were parked (between two 4 x 4's). It didn't take me long to realise just how unfit I ahve become in the last few months of not going to the gym regularly (something I really must do something about maybe I'll go tomorrow).

On arrival at the festival we first had a look at the 'touring cars' lots of engine revving and cars being lovingly polished. I loved seeing all the old Alpha Romeo cars (mostly red). Before moving on to the paddocks where we were able to see cars driven by all the well known formula top names over the past 40 or 50 decades.At this stage in the day I was using my phones for taking pictures (I have not uploaded them yet as I need to dig out the cable ~ I know you are thinking thank heavens for that). But here are a few of the pictures I did take on my little digital camera.

The rain held off for the majority of the day after my previous fears of being soaked. The only heavy down pour happened as we were heading home in the safety of LV's car. However I did wear my new yellow high visibilty coat which was a blessing as this meant that LV and I didn't have to stick together like glue all day. I could wander about looking at the cars that took my interest while LV looked at the once he was interested in. He could keep track of where I was as I was indeed very visible. Obviously LV was not quite so visible to me and once or twice he surprised me when he appeared from the middle of the crowds.

It is amazing seeing the different syles of cars. One minute I was looking at this Porsche

and next minute there were these familiar cars,

and what a thrill this little boy's family had when he was lifted into the driver's seat.

In the middle of the afternoon we sat on the grass near to Goodwood House. On the track there was a demonstration by Dougie Lampkin bouncing his motorbike on and off a subaru. Being a massive 5' I find it difficult to see over crowds but I was happy to watch the events on the large screens. All of a sudden Dougie left the track and emerged on the gravel path leading upto the House going around the centre piece of the Festival.

As you can see this huge Iron structure has attached to it 5 current Landrovers in special silver. OJ on seeing the picture asked if they were life size, I can assure you that they were.

Whilst we watched Dougie drove his bike in through the front door of the house, we then followed his progress via a helmet camera and the big screen as he went from room to room until finally he appeared on the roof where he continued his antics.

We finally left the Festival at around 4.30 and headed home. As we were leaving LV asked me if I would like to go for an Indian or a Chinese meal to end the day. But first he took me home so that I could make sure my boys were ok and had food for the evening.

After a lovely meal (which I really couldn't do justice to ~ that will teach me to wear jeans that are on the tight side) we said good night. All that fresh air and unacustomed walking I really was very tired.

I might not be as interested in cars as LV but it was still a lovely day out. Good company and just the relief of spending a day not having to worry about anyone or anything. I also appear to have caught the sun even though it wasn't out for very long at any one time, my face and chest are now a very definite red to contrast my very yellow coat.

Thank you LV

Now I shall leave you with an image that tickled my sense of humour.

change of name maybe

I am thinking of changing my name to

Giggling lady

or

Blushing lady

As you know a large part of my work involves talking on the phone. Here is a small sample of a few of today's calls.

Hi this is Andy from *****

crumbs does Raj know you are phoning, he didn't believe you had placed an order before

lol, well he does now, do you treat Raj the same way you do me?

yes ........giggle giggle

can I ask you to check something for me

aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh maaaaybeeeeeeee ........giggle

how long can you keep that up

how long do you want me to?

ummmmm I think I will ring back when theres no one around

then there was this call

good morning LiR I am hoping you will say yes

ummm I never say yes........giggle

well mabye sometimes

have I made you blush?

maybe.........giggle

do you have such a thing as ***********?

yes sure we do.......giggle

can you check the price to us

ok but what company is it?

what was that?

are you going to tell me what company you are?

No.........giggle

ok its Clark H E R

ah is that Bill?

how did you know is it cos I'm the craziest man ever?

lol well I knew it wasn't LV, I have not heard from him all week

no hes got a bad back hes been off work all week Mandy will start panicking soon

hope you get better soon LV

Real Life readers

This feels a little strange. It was confirmed to me today that I am being read by someone in my RL. In the past my blog has been read by some of my lovers/potential lovers, this has not bothered me in the slightest. The only one that bothered me was N. He found my blog Battle to find myself after I had finished seeing him. Of course he read my thoughts about not being happy with him, he felt that I had made a fool of him because everyone knew who he was. In fact only one person I talked to (Forest) knew about him and which town/city he lived in (not the same as mine). N even spoke to Forest online one day when he was staying here and I was chatting to Forest he decided to get in on the act and wind poor Forest up (at this time it was still several months before I met Forest). N was the reason I started my second blog Kindred Perverts and took on the persona of Sexy Vixen. N was also the reason I made both blogs private for a while when he was trying to black mail me. What ever did I see in that man?

I did find that it had an effect on my writing when I was seeing Forest knowing that he had been reading my blog since it began. Sometimes I found myself writing things especially for his benefit even though I was never sure whether he had read it or not as he reads on and off rather than regularly. Other times I censored what I wanted to write because I wasn't sure I could be completely honest whilst Forest might be reading it. Then I set up this blog with the idea of dedicating it to Forest for his birthday, it consisted purely of posts that were about him.

Until there came a time when I decided to have a change in direction this coincided with my decision to stop reading a couple of blogs by women who I had been friendly with until the day I accused one of being a bully to one of my other friends. Luka recognised this as being aimed at her and decided to go overboard in her defence of herself. I took this in my stride refusing to be drawn into any arguments but when she decided to rehash the whole thing again I decided it was time to cut the ties with her and one or two of her followers. Its was on this very blog that I had my public bust up with Forest which led to him leaving a few comments for the first time.

Now another RL person is reading my blogs. This person is not a current or former lover. This person is not someone I have ever met in person. We speak fairly regularly and we even exchange emails. I am a little embarrassed that this person has been reading some of the more intimate things I have written. I was somewhat alarmed this evening when I discovered that one of the first things this person read was this post about texting JJ. He has also read this little fantasy that I wrote after a text comment from Forest. If he was someone I didn't know it wouldn't worry me. The fact that we speak in RL doesn't over worry me, but he knows my Boss and some of my colleagues, now that could be interesting. I guess that I am just going to have to trust this person who I think has chosen his own name. (First person to ever do that). How did he tell me what he wants to be known as? I received an email this afternoon (from one LV to another). I took this to be his way of not only telling me that he has read my blog but also that he would prefer to be known as LV.