The Aussie

Now love wasn't my main motivation for moving back to England. Admittedly I had said that I wanted to move back, grow up and settle down but I realised this wasn't going to happen over night. After things went a bit pear shaped with the Christmas Party Boy/Ex-Husband, yes he was the same person, and it was clear that I wasn't going to marry the Boat-Man nor his money, I decided to upload my profile back on the dating website from last year.

A few messages were received, some good, some not so good. One did catch my eye and I replied back. This came courtesy of an Aussie guy living in London. A bit of banter went back and forth and it was decided we'd meet for a date the following week. Bank/Monument was chosen as a happy medium as a location and a caffeine related date was organised due to the fact that we both have quite geeky jobs and a coffee would avoid either of us falling asleep when the conversation would naturally turn round to what we do at work. However due to the day of the date, a Thursday, and it being a busy night in the city, along with the fact that neither of us knew any decent cafés that weren't Starbucks in the area, he suggested booking a table at a restaurant for a dinner date. Now one thing I've learnt on this dating mission is that it’s a good idea to remember some of the good places you've visited on dates even when the date itself wasn't good. I of course mean the tapas bar from the previous week with the Boat-Man and so myself and The Aussie met at Old Street.

A quick walk round the corner and I find myself sitting on the same bar stool as per the week before. We ordered beers and had a quick look at the menu and ordered a couple of dishes to snack on. Now whereas other dates I’ve had from this site had been after quite a bit of conversation whether through skype or phonecalls, my self and The Aussie hadn’t had that much correspondence before meeting. Despite that, the conversation flowed quite nicely. There were odd moments when the conversation naturally came to a conclusion followed by a short pause before one of us would think of something new to ask and a new conversation would start but I think that’s generally what happens when you meet anyone properly for the first time. Flirty smiles were exchanged and as the atmosphere and the noise picked up throughout the evening, the more we leant into each other. By the end of the date I was thinking, yeah, I’d go for tapas again with this guy.

We walked back to the tube and ended up waiting ages for a train. I, by this point had missed my last train home and was going to have to call my mum to pick me up which was undoubtedly going to raise a few questions because I had told her that I was just meeting a friend for coffee after work. By the time we boarded a train we made our way underground to Oxford Circus where I was going to have to jump out to change tubes whereas he was going to stay on and go straight to Notting Hill. Now there was once an incident with The Writer where we were in a similar “saying goodbye on the tube” situation. I had asked The Writer the night before what our relationship was and this was a bit of a crucial moment in the will we/wont we get together point. I felt that a good goodbye kiss was needed at that point to truly direct the course of that relationship. However when it came to it, we were both on the tube heading in the same direction but with different end points, a bit like our non relationship really. We got to Embankment, I had to jump out and change whereas The Writer was travelling to Marylebone. At that point, with neither of us wanting to make a huge public display of affection there followed a quick kiss on the lips followed by me darting out the tube doors leaving me feel rather disappointed that that was it. Now The Aussie and I weren’t exactly in the same situation, we’d only had one date for starters but there was that awkward moment when it came to saying goodbye. The result was a quick kiss on the check, after saying we both had a fun evening and it would be nice to meet again sometime.

Texts were sent on the way home to say that we had both got back safely, as was the obligatory text to a friend to say that he wasn’t an axe-murderer and all was well and I went to bed with my dating confidence back up again and feeling pretty good about myself. As a first date it was pretty good and would I see him again? Yes I would. However the next morning whilst on the train to work a text came through asking if I was still awake and that then caused a little change of direction…