The Ex-husband

So who is the Ex-husband? Well this guy messaged me on the dating site back in November just after my date with the Boat-Man saying that he had taken a look at my profile and had decided in his head that he had already married and divorced me. He then thanked me for all the lovely imaginary memories he had and said that I could keep the house in Hawaii but he was keeping the puppy. Now me being incredibly dog broody instantly messaged back saying that the puppy was staying with me to which he then replied that after what I did with the pool boy, the puppy was definitely staying with him! Anyway, the messages continued like this for some time until we decided that there was still a spark and we would be willing to work on our relationship again!

So messages became skype chat, the skype chat became phone calls and the phone calls became video calls. We were supposed to meet for a date at the beginning of December but unfortunately due to the snow, I had to cancel my trip back to the UK and we never got the chance to meet in person. We re-arranged a date for in between Christmas and New Year and planned a day of fun.

We met in South Kensington. After deciding that I looked pretty good for my date with the Boat-Man, I naturally decided to wear the same thing for this date. We met in Starbucks for a coffee before heading to Kensington Gardens to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures. Hmmm, wasn't really impressed, they just looked like satellite dishes to me. Luckily it wasn't just me who shared this opinion as I fear I may have offended the Ex-husband with my lack of enthusiasm for the art. We then continued through to Hyde Park where we wandered through Winter Wonderland stopping for some mulled wine. Conversation did flow and there was no point where I felt nervous. I mentioned how my family has a tendency to say "(verb) me up" on a regular basis, for example, I can't eat eggs, they make me ill. On the silly occasions that I do eat them I often say how they poisoned me up when I'm feeling a little peaky and if my mum goes to bed before my dad, before she heads upstairs she will always say to my him "snog me up"!

After Winter Wonderland we found a pub in Mayfair and had another drink there. We were going to go to a Quentin Blake exhibition but by this point it was quite late and it had closed. Both feeling hungry I lead the way to my favourite restaurant which was unfortunately closed for Christmas so we ended up in the generic non-offensive Pizza Express. Another drink after dinner and the running time of this date is now nearly seven hours - pretty good going. Throughout the day we had joked about the awkwardness of kissing on a first date. I had mentioned the Boat-Man's lip-balm comment which was met by much joviality and scorn but at the point where we went our separate ways there was a slight what do we do now. The Ex-husband said he would go in for 80% of the kiss, I said I'd make up the other 20% and at about 90% I asked if he was "going to snog me up then?"

Now I don't think I can fault this date at all. Perhaps the weather could've been better but that was out of our control. I had a really good day and really enjoyed the Ex-husband's company. We both said that we'd like to see each other again and arranged another date whilst on the first. Both of us commented that neither of us felt nervous but then we had been chatting for the previous two months beforehand. Since that first date there have been a number of dates and all have been lovely. What happens now? Who knows but for a holiday romance it totally trumps the Wedding Boy!

The Dog Walker

So the year by this point is coming to an end, and perhaps in a bid to squeeze the very last bit of romance out of December, I agree to going on a blind date with a friend of a friend.

Quick background for you: The Dog Walker is actually a friend of my friend's father. They work together and live in the same village. He's recently divorced, wants to meet someone, settle down, have children and apparently been on some really bad blind dates.

When thinking of single friends that my friend's father could set the Dog Walker up with, he's thought, I know, Amy, she's single, why don't I set her up with him. So the father begins to describe me by saying that I'm "not normal, a dancer and fit". The Dog Walker apparently thinks, ok, why don't we meet for a drink when I'm next back in England.

Now I'm a little bit dubious, I'm not one for being set up on a blind date but I agree to it on the proviso to my friends that this is purely a sympathy date, I'm doing a good public service by going out with him on a dog walk as "a date".

Now as a date it was actually quite nice. It was good to get out and go for a long walk in the country side followed by a quick drink in a proper English country pub. As for the actual date itself, I think in my mind I was so set that this was a "sympathy date" that I had my guard up quite a lot. I was my normal self, don't get me wrong, but perhaps I was very aware of what my "normal self" was.

The conversation flowed nicely, although it was quite heavy on being single, going out, trying to meet people, dating websites and plans for the future. I think we both knew that we had both had a couple of nice hours together but that was it and although we had said keep in touch, lets do it again sometime, I think we both knew that that wasn't going to happen.

So in conclusion, a nice date, not terribly exciting, not wowed but nice. However, one should not forget that this was purely a sympathy date and although I wish him well with his quest for romance, I knew that I had a date the next day with the Ex-Husband which I was very excited about going on, and perhaps on that fact alone, any date I had on that day was always going to be overshadowed by the prospects of the next day...