A pleasant surprise

I spent yesterday with JH, whom I first met only 10 days ago. We had corresponded before that though, and talked on the phone. And we seemed to want the same things in life. In particular, I wanted a wife and she seemed interested in being one

So when I visited her at her place for the first time today, I was pretty sure of a good reception. As it was, she slapped a big lover's kiss on me even before I had got through the doorway. The rest you can imagine. She was also wearing a shift, a garment you just lift off over your head to leave nothing but woman underneath.

She is of Indian heritage but was born in KL in Malaysia, where there is still a strong British influence, so she speaks good English with a slight Indian accent.  I have always liked India and Indians and have in fact been to India three times.  I have usually had some Indian tenants and understood their way of thinking.  

JH has however been in Australia for 35 years and was married to a big Australian bloke, an engineer by trade. But she became a widow about a year ago.  She describes her marriage as incredibly happy.

And that bears on what I said about a wife.  She wants to be a   wife again.  She knows it as a blessed state. Feminists eat your heart out!  And my marriages have been very happy too -- all four of them.  So I too want a wife again -- or something similar. So JH and I want the same things.  Hopefully  can give them to one-another. 

JH is 62 and in good shape for her age, which I surmise to be in part an effect of her very lively and active nature. She is 5'5" and nestles very nicely into my arms

Is she a conniving woman scheming to rip me off?  She cannot be. I give money to all sorts of people so I will undoubtedly give some to her -- but not enough to be inconvenient. So what is freely given in full knowledge of the dangers cannot be a rip-off

An excellent half-weekend

A half weekend might seem a bit odd to celebrate but Friday night and Saturday morning just gone were something special.  They were the first instance of my revived meeting arrangements with Anne. Anne has always in the past slept Friday night in my guest room to make a Saturday breakfast convenient and that has now been revived.  Anne now has G.. living with her so it is only friendly arrangements that have been revived but my arrangements with Anne have in fact been just friendly ones for a long time.  But they have been and are very good for all that.

And the revival was very good indeed.  We both have a keen sense of the ridiculous and I was in an exceptionally good mood so it was almost a laugh a minute while we were together.

On Friday evening, I tried to take her to a Persian place that we both regard as special for dinner but they were booked out.  I had neglected to book because I thought all the coronavirus restrictions would have left them substantially empty. At 7pm, however, the place looked in fact to be busier than ever.  So we went over the road to a good Indian restaurant we both know and "well we weren esed atte beste", to burst into Middle English.  I ordered a Vindaloo which was surprisingly mild.

On Saturday morning we went to our old favourite breakfast place at Buranda.  Anne had the cheesesteak sandwich and I had a Deluxe sandwich of my own devising. Both were very satisfactory.

After breakfast we did a tour of the nearby Vinnies and I picked up a cute little milk jug. I have a weakness for jugs!  Anne went home at about 12 noon.

EPILOGUE

My date for Saturday night was the good-looking JD, a smart lady whom I have met only recently. She said she had been celebrating her 64th birthday with her family all the week so needed a special dinner on Saturday night.  So I took her to the Persian restaurant, which always impresses. I booked this time.  I haven't been there recently so I was amused to see that the slim lady with the large bust was still running the show there.  She is quite a sight.

As I usually do, I ordered the the platter for two, which is actually two large platters plus a smaller platter, all three  covered with enticing food.  JD was suitably impressed. 

I had intended to bring a bottle of champagne but forgot.  So JD offered to walk down to the nearby drive-through to pick up a bottle. I gave her a $20 for the purpose.  She asked me what I wanted and I said: "Just some cheap champagne".  She was quite tickled by that.  She kept repeating "cheap champagne"!  She knows I am well-off so was surprised that I would drink such a thing. I just smiled.  Anyway she came back with a rather impressive-looking $30 bottle of French champagne.  French wine has got a lot cheaper in recent years. She said "I don't do cheap champagne".  She is the ex-wife of a well-off professional man so is probably a bit spoilt.  What she bought was a reasonable drop.

I have only one glass of wine with dinner these days and she was driving so also drank little -- so a good half of the bottle was left. So we took it back to my place,  where I stoppered it for later.

I had a glass of it as a nightcap when I went to bed and restoppered the remainder.  So when I woke up mext morning I felt rather decadent (in a good way) to see a stoppered bottle of champagne sitting on my bedroom table  It suggested a wilder night than I actually had.

A remarkable weekend

My memory is a shocker so I want to get this down while I can.

Last Friday while I was at breakfast at my usual haunt, Vera walked in.  Vera is the widow of an old friend of mine so we have known one-another for many years. And people who know me know when and where I am to be found at breakfast.  So we had good chats over breakfast, partly about her Russian background.  When I got up to leave I offered her a small kiss, which she accepted

Then that evening Anne came over for dinner at home which went its usual exceptionally pleasant way.  We had chicken schnitzel for dinner, which is one of my favourites. She announced that it is now definitely agreed that from now on she would be staying the night on Fridays, which was VERY good news.

On Saturday I had a 12 noon lunch with JH, an Indian lady from KL in Malysia. So she spoke good English. We went to a Malaysian restaurant which had very good Malaysian food. We discussed lots of things, including the fact that we are both basically homebodies --  with little interest in outings or travel -- unusual among people in later life.  

For the occasion I abandoned my usual very casual attire and turned up in black leather shoes, long charcoal grey pants, a striped shirt and a Panama hat.  I am pretty decrepit these days but at one point Jess said I was looking good -- rather to my astonishment. I said "It's just the hat" but she demurred.  Ladies do tend to like Panama hats on men. Anyway we will be seeing one another again soon

Then on Sunday I had a breakfast at my usual haunt with JD. She picked me up from home in her large and impressive Toyota Camry hybrid. She is in her mid-60s but unusually good-looking for her age. We got on famously. Our breakfast lasted 3 hours, the latter half of which we spent back at my place!  We discussed a remarkable range of things, including some quite intimate details of our pasts. We will be meeting again but at a time to be decided.

And then on Monday I had my usual Nando's dinner with Jenny.  And despite our having known one another for over 30 years, we still had plenty to talk about

So with that record, people of my vintage would undoubtedly describe me as "a bit of a lad".  In fact, however, I would rather be married again.

Why I am about to buy a Toyota Prado

Anne and I met in late 2005 and we have had and continue to have a warm and happy relationship since then -- for 15 years now.

But it was never an orthodox relationship.  There are some things Anne needs in her life -- such as outings and travel -- that I wanted little or nothing to do with.  While I am a homebody content to spend most of my day in front of my computer, life for Anne would be insufferingly boring without outings and travel.  Travel ambitions are just about universal among older ladies. But I did all my travels in my 30s so have no such ambitions now.

So from early on Anne and I reached a compromise that we were both happy with. We arranged to have only two nights a week together.  I would spend other nights on my computer and I told Anne that what she did on those other nights was no business of mine. No questions asked and no details offered. 

And on those other nights she was welcome to find other friends -- some of whom would be of the male persuasion -- to help fulfil needs I was unwilling or unable to fulfil.  And that worked very well for both of us for a long time.  

It was however an obviously  high-risk arrangement and there was a small rupture about 3 years ago when Anne fell in love with a soulful man from Southern Europe, Mr Wonderful, which reduced our time together.  But she had him move in with her -- and found that Mr Wonderful was in fact Mr Pain-in-the-bum. So she came screaming back to me after 3 weeks and nothing more was heard of Mr Wonderful after that. Our old arrangements were restored.

I thought that after that experience a lady in her 70s with poor health would not be wandering again.  But she still had her old needs so wander she did -- six months ago.  And this time it was big-time. She met G.., who was a much better deal than I am.  He is around her age but is fit, energetic and good-looking.  And he is a real gentleman, more than I will ever be -- and is very obliging to her. He adjusts his life to her life -- a real dream. The only odd thing about him is that he is a lifelong Seventh Day Adventist.  By trade he is a plumber -- now retired.

But Anne and I both see our friendship as unique and Anne did not want to lose it.  So despite the arrival of G.., Anne insisted from the outset of her relationship with him that she would continue to see me -- for one night a week.  And she has done exactly that.  G.. was initially dubious about that idea but he has now become at ease with it.  And I of course became  free to find another lady to give me more companionship  -- which has been interesting.

I was of course depressed to become suddenly second priority in Anne's life but with the help of friends and family got over that.  I particularly missed one aspect of my friendship with Anne -- we used to have Friday nights together and Anne would sleep over at my place so we could share a first-class Saturday breakfast at a cafe we like.  G.. did not like the thought of that at all. So the sleepovers became out of bounds for the last six months.  But I have just got back that time with Anne.

Anne was thinking about buying a caravan so she could fulfil a long-held wish of travelling around Australia. But after two divorces, G.. is poor so he owns only a light and elderly van -- nothing capable of pulling a caravan.. And Anne's car is a Toyota Corolla -- also no towing engine

But I would like Anne to have her trip up the Queensland coast and G.. would be a much better travel companion than I would ever be. So, in my generosity, I had the idea of solving their problem by buying and lending to them a vehicle suitable for pulling a caravan. But that would be a very expensive gift so, in the usual manner of these things, I hoped for a small gift in return. I suggested the restoration of my Friday/Saturdays with Anne. Anne has herself always wanted that and G.. has now agreed to it. So, courtesy of an exchange of gifts, my old arrangements with Anne have not been totally restored but a part of them that I greatly value has been

And throughout my adult life I have always owned two vehicles. For a lot of the last ten years I in fact owned three!  But, for not much more than a month, I have been down to only one -- my trusty 16-year-old Toyota Echo.  So buying a Prado will be something of restoration of the status quo ante bellum.  When it is not being used to tow a caravan, it will be available to visiting friends and family from out of town, as my second car always has been.  

Additionally, it should be some help in my meetings with single ladies.  They generally drive much fancier cars than my little old Echo and presumably look down on it.  The Prado, by contrast, is well appointed so I will presumably gain some respectability by driving it. It costs $60,000+ so that should look good as a sign of economic competence

A surprising week

On Wednesday night I was scheduled to have lunch with P... She is an ABC (Australian-born Chinese) so spoke excellent English and was very keen on classical music.  I had met her only once before for morning tea. On the morning for our lunch she contacted me to tell me that some work had come up that was going to keep her very busy for a few days so she could not do lunch.  I have not heard from her again.

On Thursday I was set for dinner with a lady whom I had not previously met.  She has a Dutch surname so I thought she might be Dutch.  It turned out, however that she was a Singaporean Chinese.  She had had her eyes done so her Asian origins were not immediately obvious. She spoke good English but with a noticeable accent. She too liked classical music. We had a congenial enough dinner at a nearby restaurant and then went back to my place to watch some operetta on DVD.  She seemed favourably impressed but after a while said: "I have to go now" and bolted out the door quite unceremoniously.  I would be surprised if I saw her again.

Then on Saturday I had a break from the Asian ladies. A blonde lady -- JD -- I had seen only once before over tea about a month ago rang me and suggested that I take her to dinner that night.  She is in her 60s but still looking very good. So we went to a nearby Burmese restaurant where we had a very good dinner and where we got on quite well. We watched some operetta back at my place after dinner. The most interesting thing about her to me however is that she agreed to have a regular dinner with me once a week from then on.  I look forward to that happening.