Blast From The Past
Posted in Blog by: LottieI made my way onto the DART, nose stuck in the book, bumped into the man standing at the door and then tripped over some feckers bag strap. Don’t leave your bag on the floor woman!
Swearing inwardly I found myself an empty four seater and went back to the final chapters.
“Now there were two men running from the direction of the fire. Both wore yellow slickers and jeans, slickers standing out even in the smoke…”
A tap on my shoulder, “both carried what looked like shot guns” and I reluctantly pulled away. It was the man I had so clumsily knocked out of his standing upon my boarding. I smiled and prepared myself for a scolding on how one should look where they are going when it occurred to me.
A recognition, a spark. The same wild shock of blond floppy hair, check. The same green eyes, check, albeit they were home now to dark shadows underneath. An unfamiliar frown line creased his forehead but it was unmistakable. The man standing before me was my very first boyfriend, now grown and stubbly and smelling slightly of stale whiskey.
Within fifteen minutes we had caught up on 10 years. Discussed work, life, love, holidays, family, the weather and the economy until finally we sat uncomfortably making small talk, waiting for our stations to arrive. We exchanged email addresses and promised to keep in touch.
We shuck hands then hugged awkwardly and as he departed he turned to me and said “That was the longest break-up ever but I’m glad we finally have closure“.
Technically we have been on a “break” since 1997.
25/09/2008
(In the notebook since September last year and neither one of us have “kept in touch”)
May 18th, 2009 at 9:54 am
[...] http://www.thenationallottie.com/2009/05/18/blast-from-the-past/ [...]
May 18th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Nice to get these things wrapped up. You took a break at that was that? Wow.
May 18th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Awh Lottie …..that’s kinda sad!
May 18th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
not exactly sad…but definitely touching.
May 18th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
I hate those moments you have with people from your past and you get to that awkward point of leaving and instead of saying, ‘Let’s face it, we no longer have anything in common, have a nice life’, you both (kind of)sheepishly say you must keep in touch.
I did exactly that with a guy I used to know, walked back into the office and said, ‘Ten bucks says we never get in touch.’ That was September last year.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I like the new get up Lottie. The red reminds me of Bourneville wrappers and London buses.
So yer man, was he married, kids, alco? Spill.
May 19th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
@Jo We went to a Verve concert and after that it all went a bit cold. It was around the time of the Rachel & Ross “break” and I jguess I thought it was vogue.
@Laughy Kate – I think we meant it at the time.I remamber him as being a very nice boy ( yes Im channelling my Grandmother) but laziness and procrastination are terrible thigns. How will you colelct your winnings?
@Holemaster – now that’s all I see too.
No not married, no kids..that he mentioned. He works in a bank ( or at least did 8 months ago) and seemed pretty fatigued by life if I’m honest.
He did smell a bit like a pub but I can’t hold that against him now can I? I mean, he’s probably been hitting the bottle pretty hard ever since I pseudo-left him. Poor creature.
May 19th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
That is some break…
May 20th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
what a sappy thing for him to say! i would’ve gagged on the spot!
and it was obvious that you weren’t going to keep in touch when i came to the bit about sitting uncomfortably waiting for your relevant stops…
i’ve been in similar situations w guys and girls from school say.. i just say that it was nice to catch up and never ask for their current phone / email etc
which, truth be told isn’t bitchy, just more realistic!
May 21st, 2009 at 2:44 am
Awkward…
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:50 am
@Chris- It was time to call a halt to it.
@Glitterkitty – He said it lightheartedly so I can’t hold it against him. I don’t really think we ever had anything in common when we went out for those dramatic few weeks in 96/97. But we did do some quality hand holding.
because of my uneasy proximity to my home town I meet people from school quite often and it’s rarely a comfortable happy reunion. There are a few girls I would like to remain in contact with but it all just seems like more hassle that I can be bothered with.
@Lyndsay – It will probably be another 12 years before I see him again, so it’s not so bad.