A blast from the past!

Well, it’s been an interesting day so far. Just before lunch, DSC sent me a text saying she knew of an attractive, professional single woman around my age who was looking to date and that she was going to send me a photo. Then photo never arrived, but after a brief text conversation, everything ground to a halt as DSC discovered that this girl was very religious and teetotal – completely not my type. It was interesting while it lasted… all twenty minutes of it!

In addition, I also saw Pretty Blonde at lunchtime. It’s been a while (almost three years if I recall correctly), but a quick refresher is that she was someone I was mildly interested in while she worked at the same company as me a few years ago. I haven’t seen her since she left, though. PB was looking very well today.

Finally, another girl that works in our company is taking a career break. If she didn’t work for our company, I’d definitely be interested in her – intelligent, tall, sexy, good figure, pretty and a lovely smile. We’ve had some decent banter on odd occasions, but nothing to suggest that anything might go anywhere beyond that. There’s an outside chance I can see her out of work though as she’s friends with M’s girlfriend.

Meh.

I'm still feeling restless, leading on from this post. The dating thing is an issue as is the travelling thing and they're kind of intertwined. I really want to go somewhere warm, sunny and interesting, but I don't want to do it alone. I saw a few pictures of RB on Facebook earlier, when she was travelling the world, and I think it accurately summed up the mood I've been in - not wanting to be single, with itchy feet. Meh.

DSC says it's a winter thing... she doesn't like being single during the winter. I can't say I've ever noticed something like that - the single thing - but it's something that's definitely annoying me at the moment.

Finally!

QC2 finally got back to me, after a few months of being an email black hole. She's away on holiday for a few weeks, but will look me up when she comes back. I don't doubt this, as she does keep her promises. I look forward to it and it'll be good to catch up.

No contact from QC3, though if I recall correctly, it's her birthday today. I expect her to be in contact very shortly though.

Hmmm...

In order to satisfy my own curiosity, I asked MF if RB was home at the weekend and explained that I thought I had spotted her while I was out. Surprisingly, MF says she wasn’t aware that she was home. I always thought MF and RB were close friends. I know when friends like G come home, I’m always aware of it through other family and friends, assuming G himself doesn’t give me advance warning.

In other news, it looks like the work being carried out on the house is going to continue for at least another two weeks. Personally, I thought the jobs were two weeks of work, full stop. I’ll be having words with the landlord about this as four weeks for the work they’re doing is unacceptable.

Stig of the House

The annoying housemate last night let slip that he doesn’t think he’ll be in a job come Xmas. With the current recession and his work, which is related to the construction industry, still at an almost standstill, he’s predicting that his department will be cut from the company by then. It’s sad, but I’m quite buoyed by that statement as he’ll almost definitely move in with his fiancé (and sooner rather than later), leaving us two remaining housemates to get in someone else… preferably someone who will lend a hand around the house, not treat it like a pig sty and stick his hand in his pocket for household goods when required.

The QCs

I met up with QC1 for lunch yesterday. I always enjoy meeting up with QC1, but I really don’t see her enough. She was asking after NM, if I’d seen her again, and gave me an update on the blind date thing she’s trying to arrange (it’s still happening, but things have been made more complicated by the blind date’s sister, so the arrangements are taking more time than anticipated).

Semi-related to QC1, following on from this post, I’ve yet to hear back from QC2 or QC3. The QC2 thing is starting to get slightly annoying as emails are disappearing into the ether. I want to meet up with her, but the thing that’s annoying me is the lack of replies, not the lack of going out for a drink with her.

I’ve also decided that I’m going to get into the online dating thing again. DSC has been trying to talk me into it for the past month or so and I’ve resisted, but the being single thing is slowly creeping up to annoying levels again. I’ve said it before that most of the time, it’s not an issue, but it does pop up every now and again. The recent Near Miss thing has kicked it all off again, I think. DSC has offered to come and help me build a profile for a site… probably PoF or Match as she seems to have had lots of joy in getting messages if not dates. That was my issue last time… the lack of contact either by way of replies to my own initial contact or people getting in contact with me.

Roundup.

I've been restless all day. I don't really know why, nor what I can do to shake this feeling. Maybe it'll just pass, but I think I just need to do something out of the ordinary, just for a change of pace/scenery. I'd love to do some travelling, but the usual problem is there in that I don't have anyone to go travelling with. I did have the option of going to a relative's wedding, but ultimately the trip would have been too expensive. It's a shame though as I could have used the time to meet up with E and a few other friends again, and it's been a while since I've seen E. I do still miss her a lot.

Once the work on our house has been complete, I'm going to seriously look at my diet. I would like to lose some weight over the next few months, and I'm doing the exercise, but I think my eating habits are all wrong. There's no point in doing anything now seeing as our house is like a building site right now and the cooker doesn't even work properly. Once those are sorted, then I'll look into it. I've already done some reading, so I have a rough idea of what's required.

A thought popped into my head...

Just a quick thought about something KFW said earlier about RB dating a married man. On the night of our one and only date, while lying in bed after RB had pretty much ended any idea of dating with her baggage, RB mentioned something about Facebook stalking "a friend"... a married man and wanted to know if this would be out of order. My reply at the time, if I recall correctly, was something along the lines of "if he's a friend, then there's no harm really", but thinking about it now, it appears that she was referring to the bloke she had been dating and was the source of the baggage she was referring to.

Now I'm off out to the pub!

A coincidence?

While out grabbing a coffee and bacon roll (my usual Friday morning treat) at our local market, when I noticed RB walk in. She would be one of the last people I expected to see on a Friday morning given that she moved to London about six months ago and it's been just over two years since I last saw her, never mind speaking to her. I don't think she saw me, and I did contemplate going over to speak to her, but I bottled it.

There was an emotional response, but I can't honestly tell you what it is. Unlike DSC telling me about bumping into a recent ex of hers, this wasn't dislike or anxiety though, but I can't put my finger on it.

In two separate conversations later on with DSC and KFW, I tried explaining that I was angry with myself for feeling anything when seeing RB... after all, it was only a couple of dates, tops, and some semi-naked fumbling.

KFW talked more about RB as she's met her a few times, as seen in this recent post. Some of the stories were unsettling. KFW was trying to surmise if RB was back in the city for a holiday or more permanently. RB appears to have more than a few issues, though some of RB's so-called issues are not really issues. Dating a married man in my opinion is not a sign of "issues", but something else - a different moral code, perhaps? Not according to KFC though. It was interesting hearing a different point of view about RB, even if it was concerning. KFW did suggest that she didn't think RB was a good match for me, personality-wise. That's hard for me to say because KFW probably knows her better than I do, but apart from showing the odd bit of "interesting" behaviour, she seemed like a perfectly likeable young lady. KFW described her as being moody, bitchy and immature amongst other things.

The DSC conversation was slightly different. I was speaking to DSC more because I was annoyed at myself for having an emotional response rather than anything else. I thought DSC would be more critical, but she was actually supportive and suggested that having an emotional response isn't a bad thing. Acting upon it is completely different though. Acting upon it is going to be difficult if she's still living in London though, and I'd be very surprised if she had moved back home permanently, so soon after moving away.

I did mean to ask MF if she knew if RB was home this weekend, but I never got the chance to speak to her, sadly. I think RB might be home for a local sporting event, but I'm not 100% sure. I'll maybe ask MF next week if she was home, though for what purpose, I've no idea. Satisfying my own curiosity, really.

All the Qs

This is a QC-centric post, so I might as well cover them in order.

I've made tentative arrangements to see QC1 next week for lunch. She's always good company and reasonably reliable and I'm still kinda intrigued by the blind date she wants to set me up on. I think I already know who it is, so I really want to avoid a blind date scenario, but let's see what happens... if it happens.

I haven't heard from QC2 in ages... months, in fact. I sent her an email today to see if she fancies meeting up for a chat and a drink. I know she's going to be busy... she hits a milestone birthday before the end of the month, so she might not be able to come out, but the offer's out there.

QC3 is a weird one. Until recently, I hadn't heard from QC3 in years. The last time I remember speaking to her probably would have been 2003. Bloody hell... seven years and then all of a sudden it's suggestions for meeting up for drinks or lunch etc. Part of me is confused because this is all a bit sudden, but at the same time, she used to be a good friend and someone I was interested in, so why not just meet her?

Random girls.

I spoke with M earlier today about the two (single) girls that were out in his company last night as I remember one being quite cute. Sadly, it turns out that they were just two random girls that they'd got talking to in another pub and had tagged along.

Weird vibes

I was out last night wih CF, DSC and her boyfriend for CF's birthday. It was a weird night. There was only the four of us. There were some issues with CF and her friends, but I've no idea what they were... maybe DSC will provide some further information later today. In the end, rather than being a rowdy, fun evening, it was more restrained with CF being in a weird mood all evening.

The only other point worth mentioning is that M was in the same bar with his girlfriend and a few other people. I seem to remember a couple of cute ladies, too, but as I was out with CF and DSC, I really couldn't give them the time to get to know them better, even though one of them was really quite cute. I popped across for a brief chat, but nothing more than five minutes, sadly.

I had promised DSC, after a bit of lecturing, that I would try and at least go looking for potential dates this weekend, but Friday was a washout (and a work night out, so looking wasn't really an option) and CF's own less-than-happy mood meant that I didn't get to go looking.

An interesting conversation.

Sitting in the pub with a group of work colleagues a few nights ago led to a conversation about age. We were "age spotting" various people around the bar and that prompted me to remember my first encounter with RB where she claimed to be a certain age. Out of interest, I asked a friend what age RB was, to confirm my own theory. My friend confirmed that she was the same age as I'd guessed, but this then prompted a whole discussion on RB for some reason. I knew she was a bit eccentric, but from the stories I heard, the fact she went AWOL probably worked in my favour. Some of the stories were a little concerning as they painted RB not as an eccentric, but as somewhat of a self-destructive personality and she was very difficult when drunk (though I saw glimpses of this myself). She was still very cute and I'd loved to have seen where things went.

Housing progress.

Finally, after a year of ‘complaining’, our landlord has finally decided to do some work on the house. Typically, though, rather than come in, fix the things that need fixed with minimum fuss (two days work, tops), the house looks like a building site and will be this way for at least another week as they completely over-react, FFS! I think they think that by doing £1000 of work to the house, they can add £20,000 of value to it. Despite the fact that they’re architects by trade, I feel they are really wide of the mark here.

On a similar subject, one of my housemates has recently gotten engaged, so I reckon he could be out of the house by Christmas. Seeing as it’s the messy one, I’ll not be sad to see him go and getting in a new housemate should be interested, if nothing else.

Another wedding.

A few days ago, I was at another wedding. This time, rather than a friend, this was a relative’s. Once again, though, there was a distinct lack of available, interesting women there. I had a good time, but a part of me was disappointed by the lack of opportunity that weddings usually afford.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

After last week's incident with DSC and her unwarranted inclusion of her boyfriend out on a night out, she let slip tonight that his opinion of me might be as low as mine is of him - at least in terms of respect. I did try and get DSC to tell me why, but she refused to elaborate. That's going to make CF's birthday next week a bit interesting, though I'm not the sort to pick fights and as long as CF's fuck buddy isn't about, I'll no doubt make some effort in seeing if she's interested in, well, something.

I'm still a little confused as to why I'm invited out. CF and I have hit it off (platonically at least), but we've only met a few times. I barely invited DSC out to my birthday and we've become quite close in the ten months or so that we've known each other.