When you find yourself suddenly single, normal everyday routine tasks unexpectedly become a challenge. For me, grocery shopping was one of these.
Food brings people together and cooking for those I love brings me great joy, so i’m sure you can understand why going to the supermarket suddenly became a massive chore. No longer did I have anyone to cook for and keeping myself nourished wasn’t high on my list of priorities. I was more concerned with trying to avoid falling into the depths of depression.
You can imagine my surprise when one evening I inadvertently found myself being picked up at the local supermarket. It was the average post-work food run. The mind set: get in and out as quick as possible. Strolling down the aisles, in hope of finding dinner inspiration, I stopped abruptly when the bargain hunter in me spotted something on special. Within a fraction of a second I felt a crippling pain around my Achilles. Some fool had careered into me with their trolley. “Oh gosh, I’m so incredibly sorry, I wasn’t looking up.” Glaring at me horrified was a skinny man of about six-foot-tall, bald head and wearing a professional sports kit. This guy was an athlete!
Through (awkward) small talk he convinced me to meet him for a coffee to apologise. I was so shocked by everything I found myself saying yes, and before I knew it I was handing over my phone number. What was I doing! This isn’t me. This isn’t how I roll. And since when is the supermarket a hive for singles? Once again, my brain had a freak out.
About a few days later we met up for a coffee. From the moment I clocked him a second time I knew I wouldn’t be seeing him after today.
Now, I love animals. I own a Labrador, cats and I ride horses on weekends. I consider myself fully equipped to deal with any four legged creatures. What I was not prepared for was a very tall man to show up with an incredibly small dog. When I say small, by comparison, my cat is actually bigger. He owned a Chihuahua! There was part of me that just wanted to break into laughter. One Labrador paw to the head and death would be imminent for something like that. I couldn’t deal with this. I also couldn’t deal with the fact that he treated it like a baby. Throughout the course of our conversation I learned he had significant baggage that did not have a simple solution or an end in sight. I politely thanked him for meeting me but made it clear that I wouldn’t be seeing him again.
So, it was back to the last real man.
The Dating Diary 