Dating long distance

A couple posts ago I mentioned meeting a couple of guys at the Blitz Party.  Over the next couple of months N and I got to chatting online, texting, chatting on the phone and even meeting up on a stopover I made on my way to Cornwall (he lived in Devon).

He made me laugh, was kind. intelligent, and though originally I didn't think anything would come of it when we exchanged contact information at the Blitz Party I soon found I like him and enjoyed our chats, and I was very glad my flatmate had chatted up his friend those couple of months back.  The catch of course was he lived in Devon. Encouragingly he did think that London was a possibility and he was up for a change.  When in March he got made redundant the process of making the move got under way.  In the mean time though our relationship was a long distance one.  This meant many hours on trains, learning how to get the best deals for those tickets, lots more calls, texts and messaging on line.

The good thing about long distance is you make the most of the time you have together. It also means the normal dating pattern doesn't exist. In some ways it slows things down, and at the same time other things happen faster. On visits we were staying with each other, and in N's situation this meant staying at his parents because he had rented out his place.  Meeting the parents on the 3rd date (though we had known each other for months and months by this time) and staying over at their house isn't something I've experienced before.  Luckily for me not only is N fantastic but he comes from a great family who are very welcoming.

We made the most of those first months, and his car before he sold it, and made lots of road trips.  We toured the west country and then went north to somewhere I've wanted to go for years, Alton Towers (more on that tomorrow).

Things have come a long way, and I still enjoy every minute with him and he still makes me laugh like no one else.

Summertime

Summer seems a long way off now, but here are some summery London photos. When summer does arrive, and for however long it is, a day or a week, London comes alive, parks are full, people are smiling, and as long as you don't have to take the underground, where it is 1000 degrees, life is good.

In our back garden.

mmmm Pims

Movies under the stars at Somerset House.

Day trip to Windsor.

Day trip to the beach, Broadstairs in Kent

Skyfest, summer doesn't always go as planned.

Another road trip. Alton Towers, scariest roller-coaster ever!

A trip down the Thames.

Regent's park, early spring picnic (in London you make the most of summer when it shows). 

An afternoon at the Rugby.

Sky ladies lunching in Chiswick (Colin Firth walked by and I missed it!)

Dartmoor in Devon.

Dartmouth in Devon

A light meal by the sea side in Devon.

Trafalgar square usually has something going on during the summer. This is a shot from Canada Day, more to follow on that.