Completely random.

Completely out of the blue, an old primary school friend popped into my head. In fact, it was the attractive, athletic one from this post. For seemingly no reason, I remembered seeing her on Tinder, swiping right (no expectation of anything than it might have been a conversation starter) and that's it.

Usually, I see the same women pop up semi-regularly... every few months. I know I've posted about seeing some of the minor local celebs pop up a few times per year. But there's been no sign of her.

Argh.

I had a really weird dream last night. It involved M and MM getting married in a seaside town where I used to spend my summers as a kid. All my school friends were there - FP, G, BW, BR etc. But with hours to go, I realised that I left my suit back home. There was then a frantic struggle to find a replacement suit, which was initially successful, but then I couldn't find a shirt and tie to go along with it. Panic ensued.

Along the way, during the suit hunt, I managed to meet three attractive women, all of whom seemed interested in me romantically. Inexplicably, I never managed to find a suitable shirt/tie combo despite an extensive search with the three attractive women. Eventually, I turned up to the church bare-chested and red-faced. I was also too late - M and MM were already leaving the church.

MM was laughing. Then one of the attractive women showed up - she kinda resembled Chloe from before Xmas from what I remember of the dream - with a shirt and tie. I dressed and we all went off to party at the CB Bar which wasn't in my hometown in the dream but had been transported to the seaside town.

Suffice it to say, I woke up this morning somewhat stressed about the suit hunt aspect and not feeling positive but frustrated about meeting an attractive woman part.

Pondering (2)

Somewhat predictably, I didn't go out last night. S did reply to my WhatsApp message, but he had seemingly forgotten that he'd tentatively agreed to meet. Regardless, he claimed he was nursing a chest infection. GM had always said it would be unlikely that he'd come out, and he reiterated that in another message.

I wasn't THAT bothered. It would have been nice to have seen them, and it would have been nice to have met up with KfW2, but I was equally as happy sitting in front of the TV with a beer.

The only really surprising thing was a text message from KfW2 after 1AM asking if I had gone out (I had said that if I were out, I'd let her know where we were). We swapped a few messages and I went to bed.

It's a bright, sunny albeit chilly day here. I probably should go out and do some outdoor house maintenance, but the beers and rum from last night have given me terrible apathy. I should at least make a list of outdoor chores though.

Pondering.

KfW2 called this morning, just for a chat. It turns out she's hitting the town tonight, with her husband. I mentioned that there was a small chance that I might be out, too, with S and possibly GM. But it's very small. 

"I suggested drinks at the start of the week and S was very positive, but I've heard nothing since..."

"That's not good," said KfW2.

"Yup. So I'm not really in the mood to chase him up. If something happens, it happens. If not, I'll be in front of the telly."

"If you are out, let me know and we might join up with you for a drink."

I said that I would and we moved on to other topics.

And now I'm tempted to chase S on the off-chance that KfW2 and her hubby decide to meet us because I don't recall having seen KfW2 face-to-face since that night in August or September of last year. Even though we've got our own thing planned for two weeks' time.

Trouble.

I started watching "Fleishman is in Trouble" last night and I got about a third of the way through the second episode before I gave up. I found it a difficult watch, but can't quite put my finger on it. Was it the bratty daughter? I did find her annoying, but there was something more.

And I was surprised as it was the kind of thing I'd be interested in. Plus, I've always found Lizzy Caplan and Claire Danes to be good in anything that they've done before.

It seems well-reviewed, but it's not something I'm on board with.

Hooray.

So it looks as if the night out with KfW2 is back on and will happen in just over 2 weeks' time. And this time it's not pencilled in, we're committed as she's bought the tickets. I am genuinely excited. And hopefully, it will be as good as our previous nights out and give KfW2 a taste for more and future nights out won't be as much hard work.

Weird

I've just gotten a notification from Google that it's put a couple of posts behind an advisory message of content. Posts from 2006. Posts from sixteen years ago. Wowsers. I've had a look at the posts and they really don't seem that offensive to me. I can update the content and remove the advisory, but I'm struggling to see where I'm breaking any rules, so I'm not going to bother.

Just talking.

I had a coffee with FP earlier. There's no new news, but things might come to a head at the end of this coming week. I've not heard from KfW2 even though she promised to call. I was semi-expecting to hear from my sister about going to hers for Sunday dinner, but that never materialised either. So have some pictures of attractive women in dresses to cheer you (i.e. me) up.

Illin'

KfW2 is literally off the phone. It was a 20-minute conversation, but the answer to the question is that we're not doing our thing tomorrow. I don't mind, though I would have preferred if she'd told me a day or two ago. The thing is, she didn't actually try to buy the tickets to the thing until last night. They were sold out weeks ago. I don't want to say too much about what the thing is, but the Saturday after Valentine's Day is perhaps not the time to do it. It could be interpreted as a couple's thing, though not strictly so.

She claims that she's been ill since Xmas, but this is the first I've heard of it. That's not to say that I don't believe her, but more of a comment on how close we are these days. We have had phone calls and text messages and she's never really complained about feeling under the weather.

KfW2 was very apologetic. I tried to placate her, but she was having none of it.

"I feel bad," she explained.

"Yeah, but this is a silver lining."

"How so?"

"Well, if you'd bought the tickets ages ago when you first planned, you'd feel obliged to go out tomorrow even if you're poorly."

"But..."

"No. I want us to go out and have a great time. We're as bad as each other. You want to go out cos you've committed to it. I'd feel bad knowing you were out when you weren't feeling well. Book the tickets when you're feeling better and we'll have a ton of fun."

I heard her sigh.

"I hate to admit it, but you're right. Don't get all smug on me."

"Look, just get better, then we'll talk and arrange a new time."

And with that, we bade our goodbyes and KfW2 promised to call over the weekend.

Radio Silence.

This Saturday was the day that KfW2 had suggested that we do our thing. She had promised to follow up with me when she'd bought the tickets. While she hasn't been silent, we have swapped literally a couple of messages, and she's not confirmed that we're still on for this weekend.

If we're not doing anything, then I might suggest something to GM and S, to see if they want to have a few drinks. I'm feeling the need for company.

Ouch 2

All day Tuesday and Wednesday, my Achilles continued to be very painful. I recently bought a foam roller for when I start back into my yoga (now that the Covid symptoms are all but gone), so I gave the calf muscle a bit of a going over. I do remember when I went to physiotherapy all those years ago that the sexy physiotherapist told me that a lot of Achilles issues are down to tight muscles, so I stretched a bit once the roller had done its job. There didn't seem to be any let-up in the pain levels.

Until this morning, that is! Don't get me wrong, I'm nowhere near fighting form, but the pain is almost all gone. There is definitely an underlying issue that needs to be identified and sorted though. That means a trip to my GP or another physiotherapist.

Daydreamin'

I was surfing IMDB earlier, looking for inspiration for something new to watch when I came across the page for the Jessica Alba flick "Into the Blue" which seemed, to me, to be a loose remake of "The Deep". I've only seen both films once each but I do remember that Jessica Alba spent a lot of time in a bikini, swimming in the ocean.

To be fair, I've seen a large number of paparazzi photos over the year to see that she's often at the beach and has a large collection of bikinis, which she wears really well. 

While ordinarily, I'd wax lyrical about how stunning and sexy JA is, what I really took from it was that I really wanted to go somewhere sunny, swim in the warm sea, eat good food and generally chill out. It's been far too long since I've done that.

Ouch

I was out last night with Nerdy Girl for one of our walks. I forgot to track it via my fitness tracker, but it was a similar route that we usually take so, distance-wise, it must have been around 6 miles. Even walking at a leisurely pace, towards the end I felt my achilles starting to give me grief. I definitely need to start stretching those out before it gets too bad. I had to get physiotherapy about ten years ago for a similar issue.

Additionally, the promised phone calls from both KfW2 and FP never materialised. I'm not chasing FP on this. He has some news, so it's up to him when he wants to call and chat, but KfW2 was meant to confirm our arrangements for the Saturday after Valentine's Day, which she still hasn't done. My gut says she wasn't able to get the tickets required.

Timeless

When I was looking for pictures of women in boy shorts to accompany this post from last month, I found an old picture of Lana Wood. I remember her from a James Bond film, "Diamonds Are Forever". I'm a huge James Bond fan, so her face and name were recognisable to me.

The photo resonates with me for a number of reasons - I think it's a very sexy photo and Lana Wood looks stunning in it. Secondly, I think it's timeless. The clothes, the photo and even Lana herself all look as if the photo could have been taken last week and not, as it was, in 1970.

Thank U.

Years ago, around the time that I met V, I heard a song, somewhat randomly. I don't know if it was in a bar, on the radio, on television, but it was an Alanis Morissette song. I'd not heard any of her music since "Jagged Little Pill" which I loved.

The song in question was "Eight Easy Steps" and, having loved it from the first time I heard it, it wasn't long before I bought the album which still gets a listen to this day. "Eight Easy Steps" has just come on a shuffled Spotify playlist and prompted some really nice memories of that time - the second half of 2004.

Uh oh.

I sent FP a text message earlier enquiring if he'd like to meet up for a pint. It's been months since we last saw each other. I can't remember exactly when, but it must be early November or before.

The message I got back wasn't great. FP is ill, and not your stomach bug or 'flu ill but something more serious. Possibly a lot more serious. 

He wasn't getting into details over text and promised that he'll call me over the weekend, but this sounds really bad. I don't think he has a full diagnosis yet but says that things will become clearer within the next few weeks.

Let's go.

KfW2's just off the phone and it finally looks like we're doing our thing in two weeks' time. It's only about 18 months late, mind you. I feel like I should be more excited than I am, but similar to the USHW situation, it kinda feels like we've been drifting apart for ages and contact has been sporadic and mostly snatched phone calls rather than face-to-face contact. 

The pandemic didn't help; at least over the past year or so, it feels like I've barely seen her, even for birthdays and stuff. I did some babysitting last summer and there was the incident with CC tagging along to a pub trip, but I don't think we saw each other for our respective birthdays... and we always at least met for lunch if not hit the pub.

She confirmed a foreign trip away with CC later this year, which I am jealous of. I think I posted recently that while I would never be in the position to do a weekend away (I'm a bloke, after all, and she's married), just the two of us, I am jealous that CC gets that while I've had constant trouble just getting her out for a drink, lunch or a coffee.

Ah well. I'll get more excited as we get closer to that weekend, and what she has planned sounds really great and is something to get excited about.

FAnks for the memories.

While the details of last night's dream are rapidly fading, it involved FA2. I had gone to visit her and we'd ended up having a lot of sex. Her now-husband featured in the dream, too, but he wasn't romantically involved with her in the dream, he was just someone she knew. Aspects of the dream were semi-memories of times when we got physical prior to being an official couple and others were something new.

Suffice to say, I woke up this morning very frustrated, but it was all due to my current sex life being non-existent rather than nostalgia for my time with FA2.

Hello again

For the past few weeks, USHW and I have been swapping emails. I know she's not really been mentioned a lot on the blog recently, and that's partly because we've not really been communicating over the past few years, so there's been nothing to report. It's actually about four years since we were in regular contact.

I've really missed talking to her. I say "talking", but it was emailing really. But when we hit our stride in a conversation, we could cover a lot of ground, and quite often there were no topics that were off the table.

I don't know that we'll ever get back to where we were pre-2019, but the past few weeks have been a nice reminder of what was.