I am not in love with anyone at the moment, which is both comforting and boring in equal measures. Well, kind-of equal measures. Usually there are at least two men that I'm fixated on, rolling them around in my head like dough, making them better and better and funnier and cleverer, until it all inevitably ends in them 'letting me down gently' anyway. Even so, being in love is at least more interesting than not being in love, isn't it?
I thought I might find love in Belgium; under a crooked church spire or on an ancient medieval street, or wherever the hell else it is that love hangs out, but I didn't. I did meet a guy in the bar I worked in one night, though. He was drunk and smelt of boiled rice and looked saner with his hat on than off — which should have been a warning sign, really, as all hats are inevitable mistakes — but I gave him my number anyway. All I wanted was someone to eat an ice-cream with on the banks of an ancient medieval canal. I'm not sure that's what he had in mind. At one point he kind of lunged at me, I think.
He sent a text the next day. Would I meet him for a drink? Unfortunately for him I'd just been watching an Obama interview on YouTube when the text came in.
"I'm sorry," I was about to reply. "But my standards just went up."
But I didn't. I just dropped the phone back down on the bed and didn't send anything. Because that is what 'being let down gently' means.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
archive
- August 2011 (1)
- July 2011 (2)
- June 2011 (15)
- May 2011 (9)
- April 2011 (19)
- March 2011 (19)
- February 2011 (17)
- January 2011 (2)
- December 2010 (2)
- November 2010 (1)
- October 2010 (3)
- September 2010 (2)
- July 2010 (3)
- June 2010 (3)
- April 2010 (1)
- February 2010 (2)
- January 2010 (2)
- September 2009 (1)
- August 2009 (4)
- July 2009 (4)
- June 2009 (3)
- May 2009 (8)
- April 2009 (11)
- March 2009 (12)
- February 2009 (9)
- January 2009 (4)
- December 2008 (10)
- November 2008 (27)
- October 2008 (21)
- September 2008 (12)
- August 2008 (9)
- July 2008 (11)
- June 2008 (5)
- May 2008 (5)
- April 2008 (12)
- March 2008 (10)
- February 2008 (11)
- January 2008 (15)
- December 2007 (10)
- November 2007 (9)
- October 2007 (3)
- September 2007 (9)
- August 2007 (8)
- July 2007 (10)
- June 2007 (13)
- May 2007 (14)
- April 2007 (11)
- March 2007 (11)
- February 2007 (12)
- January 2007 (9)
- December 2006 (4)
- November 2006 (10)
- October 2006 (8)
- September 2006 (12)
- August 2006 (19)
- July 2006 (22)
- June 2006 (7)
- May 2006 (25)
- April 2006 (18)
- March 2006 (5)
- April 2004 (1)
- November 1998 (1)
- March 1980 (1)
I think it at least exists over on your half of the hemisphere. I've searched between alligator teeth, mosquito bites, and all the screams of geriatrics here in Florida, and I can't even find a hint of it here. My standards aren't even half the height yours are. Yeesh, I don't even remember what love smells like (7 minute sigh here). I clearly remember the scent of lust though ;)
ReplyDeleteMy standards aren't all that high. He doesn't *actually* have to be the US president, he just needs to be smart and funny and ambitious.
ReplyDeleteActually, in Bray they are kinda high standards I suppose.
It wasn't the man with the hat whose daughter didn't show up was it?
ReplyDeleteI would have thought he deserved a sympathy scoop of ice cream, as it were.
Hats are SO not a mistake.
ReplyDeleteEspecially for bald fellas.
Bray? Yeah, could be thin on the ground. Mind you, Bray has the Mermaid Arts Centre and there's a café there. Joni Mitchell's song 'Carey' suggests it's the kind of place that a wanderer might meet Mr Smart N Funny. Not sure about Mr Ambitious.
ReplyDeleteLove is a flighty thing. Like a whiff of enticing perfume it is here one moment, and gone the next. When we notice its presence and begin to enjoy it, it might already be on the move to another place. Such is life...
ReplyDeleteAnd still we all want love, be loved and love someone. We just follow the eternal rules of Nature.
It is very easy to fall in love, but a lot more difficult to find real and true love, the one that is worth the name, and worth our time, effort and emotions.
The falling happens so often that I stopped counting long ago. When I fall again, I just get up, dust myself and walk on.
The true one happened to me once, a very long time ago, and two or three times I came close, but then life decided otherwise.
Something inside me still hopes to find real love, but experience and statistics tell me that it is more unlikely than likely.
Where does love hang out? I have no idea. If I had, I would already be at that place.
Pubs or bars are not venues I rate highly for finding love, as most people there are not real and not themselves when they are drinking. Trains, and even buses are not too bad in my experience. But there is no pattern.
Just keep your mind open and your senses at the ready. Wwho knows, love might just be sitting around the next corner, waiting for you. I wish you the best of luck!
P.S. I just discovered your blog by chance, and I am pleasantly surprised by your writing style. I will look in again from time to time, as I find vivid language and good imagination attractive. There are too many blogs saying nothing, but yours says a lot. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Question:
ReplyDeleteIf you knew where love was hanging out, would you go there? Once? Often? Never?
Hey, a comment longer than the post, that's cheating.
ReplyDeleteLerv? It'll sneak up on you when you're thinking of something completely different - like the electricity bill or lucky horse shoes.
Love is great, but I'll settle for some stomach
ReplyDeletefluttering infatuation and dragged out flirting.
As I type, I discovered the remnant of a crisp that I had been eating on the bridge of my nose, and realized even a flirt is probably a bit ambitious at this point and time.
I know it's the kindest way really,but I'm being let down gently at the moment and finding it quite tough.In a way,I'd quite prefer a firm 'thanks, but no thanks' text or something -at least you'd know for sure.
ReplyDeleteAnnie: I know :(
ReplyDeleteFidel: I don't know :(
Emerald Islander: "Pleasantly surprised", heh, thanks.
Conan: Joni Mitchell write a song about Bray? That makes me feel better.
this is bad... I like hats.
ReplyDeleteIf you've got nothing better to do this weekend, you can fall in love with me.
ReplyDeleteI'll let you down easy. That's a bona fide promise.
Thanks. I really want to fall in love with you this weekend, but after some minor stalking I'm finding it difficult to imagine what life would be like with someone who hates rap. Do you hate country, too? *anxious*
ReplyDelete"At one level a girl loves all men without differentiating them into individuals; she loves the male. And that can be a sign that she loves no male."~Halldór Laxness, The Atom Station
ReplyDeleteI swear to god I am going to read something by Laxness this year. As soon as I've finished the internet.
ReplyDeleteI dunno if Laxness has it 100% correct there.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the creepy aul drunk men on the bus!? We don't love them, we want them to get off at the next stop!
@White Rabbit...
ReplyDelete"At one level a girl loves all men without differentiating them into individuals..."... but not at that level.
For no reason at all, I thought of this...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJbLvQkCwRc
...while reading this.
Oh, I love that version. Thank you.
ReplyDelete