Yet more ground re-treading,

My cousin was visiting today and while we used to be close, we barely see each other these days. That's mostly his fault, and has recently been made more difficult by a lot of distance. A lot! Anyway, we (well, I) somehow managed to re-tread over over the whole RB incident. One of my cousin's friend's wives (convoluted!) is in the business, so he sent a text message asking her if she knew RB. Why he did this is beyond me... it's not as if this is going to change anything.

So here we are...

It was our work's Xmas bash last night and it was a really good night. I'm left, this morning, with a rather "meh" feeling to the whole thing. I'm off work for over two weeks, which is good, but I know I'm starting to fall in to my usual Xmas feeling, which is the hating of my current relationship status right now i.e. single, despite this year being quite good for me in that I met a couple of girls during my holiday earlier this year in addition to the much reported RB phase over the summer. I guess seeing a lot of the women from our firm get glammed up last night (and a lot of them really do scrub up well) which resulted in a bit of drink-related horn going on (which I'd never act on with a work colleague) which has evolved into my usual Xmas relationship mood.

Yesterday, SSCW told me that she was convinced that I would meet someone over the holiday period, which would be nice, I guess. Not incredibly likely, though!

I'm still waiting to hear from the nice girl about the flat, but I'm really pessimistic now. I'll drop her an email later today just to see what's happening, but my guess is that she's already told the successful new tenant and is ignoring everyone else that went to look at the place over the past three weeks. If that's the case, I won't be terribly amused by that!

Waiting...

Sometime this week, I'm expecting the nice girl from the promising apartment to give me a call with a yes or a no vote. I'm an impatient man and I'd really like this to be a "yes", otherwise my "score" for the year on things that are important to me will be a big fat zero out of two. RB being the other thing. Not that RB herself was the factor there, but certainly it would have been nice to see where things could have taken us.

On the other hand, I had lunch with FA1 today and she's as good looking as ever. We had a great chat over an hour or so which I thoroughly enjoyed. I wish she'd be more available to do it more often, but with a husband and family to consider, that's not going to be very likely.

Girl stuff.

I've managed to arrange a lunch date with FA1 tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm not sure why I arranged it. We haven't seen each other in years, so it'll be interesting to see what we have to say to each other. I did kind of have a crush on her years ago when she was single but she's now married with at least one kid. She's still very attractive though from the recent pictures I've seen.

I also had a bit of chat with SSCW today. She got another few details off of me regarding my personal life... stuff about FA2 mostly, but no great detail, plus she asked a couple of questions about E, specifically whether I we were ever going to hook up. It's all good fun. Like a lot females I know, I think I could open up to her a little more if we ever found ourselves in an environment where I felt comfortable, but that's where she lets herself down by deliberately distancing herself from our co-workers.

Meh...

In the cold light of day, and after a quick email to the current flatmate, my excitement has dulled somewhat. This is not because I have had second thoughts about the flat or the flatmate, but because I am pessimistic about actually getting the nod from the flatmate about moving in because it seems to me that the current flatmate is trying to let me down easily. I already know I don't fit certain criteria that she wanted (specifically age range), but I'm not sure how set she was on these, although we seemed to share an appreciation of other things, such as live music.

We'll see next week though.

Looking up?

I went to look at a place tonight... central, in an apartment block, near work and gym. The girl currently in the place is really nice (as in easy to talk to) and most importantly, the room was a good size. I'd have to be a little creative to get the stuff I want into it, but other than that, this is the best place I've seen so far, all round.

Decent flatmate? On first impressions, yes.
Close to amenities? Close to some amenities like work and gym. Proximity to bus routes to supermarkets etc. makes up for other isolation.
Expensive? Overall, not really. Rent is higher than other places, but living expenses are slightly cheaper and other expenses reduced to near zero because of location.

Would I take it? 99% yes. I think I'd need another look at the room again, just to get my head right, but there's little wrong with it.

Things are looking up!

FFS!

One of my recent goals is to change my living situation, specifically looking for a house or flat share. On and off for the past few months, I've spotted a good place and made enquiries, but my rate for getting a reply is about 1 in 3. It's gotten me really fucking frustrated and angry as I'm answering adverts and people don't have the manners to reply to my emails or text messages. All I'm asking for is that people reply back, even if it's just to tell me that the room is taken or there are better candidates at least I can move on to other adverts. At the moment I have two on the radar. I've chased them both up twice and I've still had no reply, one since Saturday and one since the week before that. I had wanted to be in somewhere before Christmas, but that's looking extremely unlikely now.

Recent thoughts.

I was out for drinks with G and FP at the weekend. Moreso G and FP turned up later simply because FP hates to think he's missing out on anything. Anyway, G was asking me about RB, who he found out about in a roundabout manner from FP. G's questioning is always intelligent and once again, I end up thinking about RB and getting, well, disappointed and while I do still think she is missing out on something that's really good fun, I can't help but get a little annoyed and frustrated about the whole thing, even after all this time.

Loose ends...

The RB thing is still something that I think about every so often. No regrets or anything and I don't see it as a chance missed because (unusually) I did my part... RB made her decision, but I still can't help feel that she has missed a chance at some great fun. A commented on how strange it was that I continued to see her out and about (I reckon I see her once every ten days), but I've never had the chance to stop and chat (assuming that she would).

USHW has been quiet for a long time. I think the last time we had anything resembling a conversation was back in July. If you still pass by here every now and again, USHW, drop me a line.

Progress of sorts.

So, I did call that number about the new living conditions and things are progressing, albeit slowly. I should have a final answer tomorrow and then things should move fairly quickly after that. I don't have much to buy in order to move out of the family home into a shared house - bedding and linen mainly, and that can be done all within a few days. The only negative point is that I'd be the first in the house which means living on my own for a while. I'd not mind that, but I am mindful of the bills that I'd rack up on my own without being able to split them two or even three ways. Still... that's getting ahead of myself. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

So, last night...

FP and I took ourselves off to see the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. It's really very good (although probably not as good as Casino Royale). Gemma Arterton is lovely in it as Strawberry Fields.

We nipped out for a couple of pints afterwards and, typical of my luck, a girl that appeared to be RB was in the pub. I say "appeared", because for the entire time myself and FP were in the pub, she was sat talking to a friend with her back to me and not once did she turn her head, get up to go for a smoke or use the ladies facilities. I would say that I was 90% positive it was her, though, given the small amount I know about RB... same hairstyle (I think) and colour, a similar handbag to the one I remember RB carrying and same shoes. This isn't conclusive, of course, but as I said, I'm fairly confident it was her.

We drank up and left, though. I didn't say anything to FP about it until it was too late and he suggested that I'd said something, even if it mean hanging around for another drink to see if it was her. I should have done that, in hindsight.

Anyway, that's done and dusted. I can't do anything about that. I do have a number to call this afternoon about a potential change in linving conditions. That could open up a lot of possibilities as I'd be more likely to be pro-active in the online dating thing, for example, once I get out of here into somewhere else.