Looking forward.

Despite G's sister claiming that he was home for the Bank Holiday weekend, there was no contact from him over the weekend nor did he reply to my last text message for clarification of his visit.

That means it's this coming weekend that he's home (or he's gone home already without seeing anyone). BR and his wife are due in town as well, but I don't know if we'll all be out together. I don't even know if G knows that BR will be in town. If not, then it'll be busy weekend and, either way, it'll be drunken.

The weekend after is a long-overdue night out with D, FBS, Friction Guy and Opinionated Guy. Again, that's going to be drunken.

The last thing on the cards, at the moment, is my re-scheduled day out with KfW2. Dates are still to be decided, but we're unlikely to do that until after my night with FBS etc.

Pondering.

CH finally replied, though it took me to send her birthday wishes to do so. That being said, a family illness meant that my original message has slipped her mind. She's not available for at least a couple of weeks, but I've asked her to get in touch with me once she is. Fingers crosses, but as always with CH, I'm not holding my breath.

Something else that slipped my mind from earlier in the week was CC's suggestion we join a gym. There's one that's literally about a 10 minute walk or a 3 minute drive. That works on a couple of levels - firstly, it's handy and secondly, if CC is going, then I have my motivation to go too.

It seems to be a little more hardcore than your Fitness Firsts, Pure Gyms or David Lloyds. There's more emphasis on weights than cardio machines (though they have those too). Plus all the photos are of boys and girls who are ripped. Mind you, that's not my goal.

Oh, and it's cheap. Cheap enough that if I get into a routine of going, I could add a couple of PT sessions a month to keep me on track.

However, just the thought of going down there, even for a look around is already making me anxious. It's something to definitely give some thought, but the anxiety though...

So, what's happening now?

And so it begins again. CH hasn't replied to a text I sent over a week ago asking to meet her for coffee. I had planned to use that coffee date as a springboard to get her out of an evening. It's also her birthday sometime around now. I can't remember exactly when in August it is, but it was around this time. That time we were out that she sent some interesting text messages on her way home. Was that about two years ago?

During the brief text conversation we had (we were both a little tipsy), she made these comments:

"Thank you for the card you have no idea what that means to me"
"Thank you for being you and weirdly appreciating me"
"And in the relatively short time we have known each other... The scale on which I trust your judgement is unreal"

That was why, when it all fell apart, communications-wise, that I had thought she was over-reacting. I also knew I hadn't been out of line. Mild criticism is no reason to to have the reaction that CH did.

That's all under the bridge now... except for the fact that the issues with CH being controlling are still there. She makes all the calls. If she doesn't like something, the alternatives are on her terms, not any compromise.

And her communications have always been shocking.

Still, it's not like I've nothing else to do. I was meant to be out yesterday with KfW2, but that's been postponed for a few weeks while she gets some family stuff sorted. Nothing seriously bad, but it needs done now.

G is home soon. It could be this weekend. His sister told me it was the bank holiday weekend, but G's own texts suggest it might be the following weekend. He still hasn't clarified, despite asking. My weekend this weekend is quiet anyway. I've taken a couple of days off work to chill a little, so if G is over, I'm free. I've no other plans this weekend.

The following weekend, obviously, G might be over. BR and his wife are definitely in town. That'll mean that others will be out including M and MM, possibly E3, hopefully MMBF (though she's an outside bet at best).

<--- --->

This caught my eye today, following links on Facebook.

World map of average (erect) penis size.

Hah!

Interesting.

While searching for a friend on Facebook earlier, DSC's name popped up. Bored, I clicked on her name. It appears that she's single again. I don't know any further details, but it doesn't kinda explain the out of the blue texts from a while ago.

Part of me is glad for her. The guy she was with at the time we stopped talking was an idiot. Seriously. He was a Grade-A Man Child. Plus he had other character traits that weren't particularly nice - like overt bigotry, for example.

I'm still not tempted to get in touch though. I still don't do flaky.

Thanks, but no thanks.

After the brief period of enthusiasm and activity on my many online dating accounts recently, someone finally popped up who looked cute and interesting and within my basic search criteria. Her profile wasn't brilliant - typically bland and... something else that I can't describe or put my finger on. Homely, maybe? However, her profile pictures suggested a sense of adventure that her words didn't.

It was three words - "looking for love". I'm not going to say it put me off, but it made me assume that she was of a particular personality type that I'm not particularly looking for. I want someone with their own personality. I've often cited KfW2 and CH as being examples of that exact type.

Physically, she's attractive - pretty, nice smile, brunette.

So, I fired off a message, asking about some of her pictures (which are all travel-related).

It took her over two and a bit days to reply, which was short and closed off. I was reasonably sure, though not certain, that it wasn't inviting a reply, but I wanted to make sure, so I asked her a few more questions - dripped a bit of personal information in there and fired it off.

That was Thursday night and I've heard nothing since, though she's been online quite a bit (often, and for hours at a time), updated her profile pictures (not the blurb though, which is telling in itself). I'm not expecting a reply at this point, but I have to wonder why people can't communicate properly.

The girl's message answered questions I'd asked, but there was no element of "thanks, but you're not what I'm looking for" or similar. She's have been better off not sending any kind of reply. I know it's difficult. I've always moaned about how difficult it is meeting people on dating sites and I try to reply to anyone who messages me who has put any kind of effort into an opening message ("Hi" simply doesn't cut it). But I always make it clear that I'm not open to prolonging the conversation and wish them all the best in their search.

Attractive Neighbour really impressed me with her messages. I was pretty sure she wasn't my type, but I sent messages anyway. We swapped a few messages each and I wished her well. She was interesting, interested and positive, all traits that online dating sites don't tend to be. If everyone were like AN, places like PoF would perform much better, I think.

Why is communication so difficult for some people?