Wordsley, Stourbridge, England: 8 degrees, chilly, overcast and trying to rain.
What a great Thursday! The beginning was a little strange, with twists and turns, but by the end of the day, everything was good.
If I hadn’t sent a message to Julie first thing, then she wouldn’t have sent me a message, which makes the whole situation seem petty, and to a certain extent, it is, but there is the one-sided factor.
A relationship cannot be one-sided, with one person giving and giving while the other takes and takes; it must be a two-way street, with both parties giving and taking equally. Julie responded immediately, only sending a message after I had sent the first.
It was confusing for both of us; we had arranged to meet, but the situation caused a bad moment, so the meeting was cancelled. However, by chance, at the café, even though we hadn’t arranged to meet anymore, we knew that both of us would be there and wanted to see each other.
When I arrived, the cafe was full, and she was sitting at a middle table, looking a little flustered and lost. I bought a coffee and sat opposite this beautiful, little, perfect woman. We spoke softly, and then she asked me to help her understand the emails she had received regarding her divorce. We googled some terms, and now everything was fine again.
Austin, her dog, was at the pet shop, where the groomers were washing, shampooing, and trimming him. I asked if I could come along because I wanted to see him. She agreed, and we set off to pick up the little man and then find somewhere for the three of us to go for a walk.
Arriving at the dog groomers, she asked me to go in with her to collect him. I met the groomer, a young woman, a little on the chubby side, who seemed very friendly and professional. The grooming parlour was an annexe to the lady’s home, with an industrial bath specially for washing animals, and lots of certificates and prizes hanging on the walls from grooming competitions.
I didn’t even realise until that moment that there existed dog grooming competitions; having been in Brazil so long, I’m completely out of it!
Austin was pleased to see both of us, which was quite nice. We got in the car and set off. I suggested ‘The Old Wharf’ at the bottom of Stourbridge, where there is the canal and lots of narrow boats, barges, and old warehouse buildings lining the canal, etc. Julie thought it was a good idea, so we went. Fortunately, the weather was not too bad—slightly chilly, grey, overcast, but not raining yet.
It was quite a sublime moment, walking along the canal as a couple with Austin. One of the narrowboats had an old man with lots of piercings in his nose, a super-long beard, and an aura of peace mixed with pure charisma, which I had not seen or felt for a long time. I asked him if I could take a photo of him, and he kindly, but a little reluctantly, agreed.
After speaking with this character and taking some photos, we continued our walk for about 2 kilometres along the canal with Austin off his lead, and he was so happy to be free; he was in his element. I don’t know who was happier, Julie, I, or Austin; everyone was good, and it was a special moment, especially for me. We got back to the car, and Julie took me home just in time for two classes.
Later in the evening, around 7:00 p.m., Julie was once again in front of my mother’s house. She is my ‘Ring and Ride’ (a well-known minibus service, especially for elderly people) while I’m in England. We set off again to Kinver, this time to the village, not The Edge—the open countryside that we had walked with Austin last Sunday.
Kinver village is quite quaint and pretty, more than I remember from my childhood. We found a place to park and started walking along the main High Street. We saw a sign outside a club advertising a Brazil-England football match at 7:00 PM.
For me, it was a sudden panic to find somewhere to watch the last half of the game. We asked a woman on the street, and she told us there was a pub with a TV more than 100 metres that way. We hurried to the pub, went inside, and asked about the match.
We were told it wasn’t tonight but Saturday night, so amid the excitement and confusion, we had rushed for nothing, assuming it was tonight. We found the situation amusing, laughed, bought a drink, and instead of staying inside the pub, we went outside to a bench in front of the beer garden to eat. We wanted some alone time, and this was our second quality moment together of the day.
Amidst lots of kissing and hugging, we talked, talked, and talked even more. We put everything in its rightful place, and we were happy. Around ten o’clock, a bit late for us, and the cold was starting to become more of an inconvenience than romantic, we decided to head home.
On the way back, we passed near the car park where we had our first perfect kiss. I mentioned it, and Julie promptly changed course; in three minutes, we were at our car park, where it all began. And now this was our third quality time together in one day, and this is where it got hot and steamy.
Starting with some small talk, it quickly developed into something more meaningful, passionate, and what we had needed and wanted to do for quite some time. We didn’t go all the way, but it was an affirmation of what we want and expect from each other in the future. It was incredible!
We were there for an hour, and after she dropped me off, any doubts from before were extinguished in that one day, especially at the end of the night.
When I got home, my mother was up I made myself something to eat and drank a couple of glasses of wine.
In bed by 1:00 a.m., happy as hell!!!
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
