As anyone who has followed this blog for any time will know some of the greatest detriment I have done to my own life is to have been afraid, primarily in two areas: travelling and relationships with women. In many ways in my teenage years and twenties, I was a very lucky man. Despite having some minor ailments, not being sporty; appearing very freckly, and gangly in how I walked, and having my self-confidence blown apart by my parents telling me I looked as if I was mentally disabled, girls/women of my age would ask me out on dates. These women were certainly not desperate for male companionship and when rebuffed by me, as was usually the case, went on to have other relationships. My fear that somehow they were doing it for dishonest motives or simply as a joke, was insulting to them but also meant I ended up lacking the experience of having youthful relationships which then meant I had little chance as a man in his late twenties and into his thirties to engage with these properly. Part of the problem stems from how I perceived relationships between young people should function and for this I have to blame, in large part, what was my favourite movie for many years: 'A Room With A View' (1985).
I was 17 when I first saw 'A Room With A View', so had already been making many of the mistakes I have listed above. However, at that stage things remain retrievable in a way they are not when you are 34. To put the movie in context, it was one of the most successful in the UK produced by the Merchant Ivory partnership (formed in 1961 of the two lovers, producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory) working with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. With 'Heat and Dust' (1983), 'A Room with a View' (1985), 'Maurice' (1987), Howards End (1992) and 'The Remains of the Day' (1993) at the time of the TV series 'Brideshead Revisited' (1981) and 'The Jewel in the Crown' (1983) [not made by them but of a similar genre], movie culture in the UK was defined as being focused on the period of the late 19th century to the 1930s. Subsequently with the very successful television version of 'Pride and Prejudice' (1994) for the following decade the focus stepped back to the late 18th/early 19th century. Perhaps in the grimness and rioting of the 1980s we were looking for escape to an apparently nicer middle class existence in which manners and behaviour were more refined, though certainly in many of these movies not all behaviour is like that; homosexuality, in particular is suppressed and women are fitted into rigid roles, though this was a contributing factor to the rise of Post-Feminism that personally I began to detect from 1988 onwards.
With my parents away on holiday I began going to the cinema alone to escape the tedium of what was on television, a habit I was to continue more vigorously from when I finally left home and lived alone, 1987-2005 . This was my first foray into that kind of activity, that you did not have to be with anyone to watch a movie, and, in fact, it could be better that way if the movie was what had drawn you rather than the social experience. I watched 'Mona Lisa' (1986) the week before seeing 'A Room With A View', so it must have been still doing the rounds from the previous year. 'Mona Lisa' is an unpleasant British movie, well made, but it left such a bitter taste in my mind that I wanted to blot it out with something more refined, hence going to see 'A Room With A View'. (I was to do something similar the following year, going to see 'Poussiere D'Ange' ['Angel Dust'] (1987) deliberately after being unsettled by 'Angel Heart' (1987)).
Of course, I was utterly swept away by 'A Room With A View' with its stunning scenery of 19th century Florence combined with stirring music which I have written about before. It is a funny movie in many parts but also a lovely romance. The hero, George Emerson (played by Julian Sands) sweeping the heroine Lucy Honeychurch (played by Helena Bonham-Carter) off her feet in a wheat field and them later sitting in the window with Florence in the background, kissing while Lucy reads a letter, were scenes that I loved and wanted to replicate in my own life. The tension comes around Lucy being unwilling to admit her passion for the unconventional young man who is of a slightly lower class (he works for the railways and his widowed father is a thinker and politically interested), but ultimately does. There is a wonderful range of quirky English characters played by skilled performers such as Denholm Elliot, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Daniel Day Lewis and Simon Callow which charm you too. I have always liked women with long dark hair and Bonham-Carter fitted that perfectly. She went on to appear in other period movies, notably 'Where Angels Fear to Tread' (1991 - from another Forster novel also set in Italy); 'Howards End' and 'The Wings of the Dove' (1997). Once I had the video I would watch it on my birthday and dream of such a romance. I could clearly post myself in the rather awkward, public servant, intellectual role of George Emerson and somehow anticipated women would love to be swept off by me even if I was not a fraction as handsome as Julian Sands.
Of course, I knew I was not living in the 1890s (and the director seemed to set it back in time a little from the 1908 source novel by E.M. Forster which features electric trams in Florence that do not appear in the movie), but had a belief I would meet a woman who would be intrigued by me and would not scream if I swept her off her feet in an Italian field. At this time, I did envisage travelling around Europe far more than I was ever in fact to do. My mother had always said that when she had been a teenager in the 1950s the way young people 'learnt' how to have relationships was through watching the movies which would show them how to behave and even how to kiss. She felt that the trouble with the 1980s was that too many movies showed abusive relationships in which sex was the key focus and so men in particular did not learn how to behave around women. In fact, for her son, the complete opposite happened and I ended up having my approach to women set by 1980s visions of late Victorian behaviour. This was exacerbated by my friends all being of the 'Dungeons and Dragons' types and not having relationships with women until they had passed thirty and by the fact that by the time I reached university it was beginning to fill (especially in my accommodation hall) with Post-Feminist women actually seeking not even a Forster-style relationship but an Austen-style one.
The trouble for me was that I knew that women did not want you to assert your desire for them and increasingly if you did, then you risked being charged with assault. We were advised that touching or kissing a woman even innocently, in the times of increasing litigation, was hazardous and there was talk of signed permission before sexual intercourse (I do not think some universities know how much they screwed up their students' lives). I mixed with too many people from private schools who were only encountering the opposite sex for the first time on a regular basis and who like me expected it all to proceed as if it were 1887 rather than 1987. I had no appeal for them, being from the wrong background and too politicised and yet I lacked all the tools to engage with the kind of women who might have liked me. There were no wheat fields, there was no time for walking in lush landscapes working up to ask permission to kiss the woman and yet, leaping in was clearly ruled out by what we had been told. Consequently years went by with no relationships and now that women expect a man to have a sexual CV by the time he reaches 21, I was increasingly ruled out on that basis.
Hampered by the Victorian approach that had shaped so much of the end of my teenage years, the relationships I ended up in were increasingly termed as 'Victorian', i.e. very chaste. I would go shopping with the woman, have tea with her, go and see a movie, but nothing else happened. I wanted to kiss her, but the chance never came up and the women themselves seemed to expect me to make a move and yet I feared they would then cry assault. Ultimately I ended up as almost a female friend, they would do domestic stuff with me then go off on dates in the evening with their boyfriends. They would come and tell me about all their difficulties with these men who were clearly so much more exciting than me, when in fact I wanted to be their lover. It took a woman who wanted me as 'the other man', i.e. to have an affair from her own marriage and was very straight forward about asking for sex, that managed to shake me out of the situation and get the tools to be more proactive. Though I did continue to have some Victorian-style relationships, funnily enough until I left London.
I suppose the lesson of all this, is do not live your life by how it is shown in movies. Perhaps we have gone to the opposite extreme from that period of the late 1980s/early 1990s when behaviour of the previous century seemed to be returning; the internet has had a huge impact on this both in terms of what you can learn and who you can meet. I have lost my affection for 'A Room With A View' though I still would recommend it because it is an enjoyable way to pass the time. I am angry now that I let it shape my expectations far too much, though I recognise it was not helped by having such critical parents and ignorant friends. The visuals and the music are engaging but it was a mistake for me to be seduced by them and then hamstrung in thinking that such a fictional approach would work in the late 20th century for real.
Showing posts with label relationships. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relationships. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Monday, 19 January 2009
Female-Male Household Chore Balance
I have mentioned before in passing how the song 'If I Was a Boy' by Beyonce which seems to have been on the radio for months is so unpleasant. All women pop artists seem to record at least one song about being cheated on and sometimes one about the experience making her stronger. I accept that for securing a female audience for their tracks this is a sensible thing to do. However, the impression it gives is that there are no decent men at all in the USA, that every man that even someone as independent as Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna or Christina Aguillera is ever going to meet is going to cheat on them, be lazy and probably steal from them.
Beyonce's is probably the worst in which she envisages herself being a man for a day and she portrays the life of a slob not bothering with his appearance, doing bad things he knows he will get away with and being inconsiderate to his girlfriend. The man portrayed has no redeeming features and because she speaks about it generically, not referrring to a particular man it is seen as an admonishment to men in general. She gives not chance for the man, 'because you're just a boy, you don't understand' and never will. It is interesting that the word 'boy' is used especially from a black US artist. Perhaps she has no knowledge of its history. You can photographs from the 1950s of black men with placards saying 'I am not a boy, I am a man', because 'boy' was used to denigrate black men in segregated America to make them seem inferior or at least juvenile. You still hear South Africans (and not just white ones) refer to their 'garden boy' or 'the boy who fixed the car' to refer to black men in menial jobs even this long after apartheid finished. I know that like the word 'nigger' in US culture, boy has to some extent been recaptured as a kind of knock-about phrase, see 'Boyz N The 'Hood' (1991), 'Bad Boys' (1995) and 'Bad Boys 2' (2003) for a young man. However, with one swoop Beyonce has almost reinstated it as a derogatory term.
That is sorted then, why not just go off and become a lesbian because clearly no man stands a chance with you Beyonce. Probably more accurately no woman would either, as a lot of what she is talking about is selfishness. There is a sense that if a partner is not in 100% agreement with what the princess wants then he is not listening properly. Has Beyonce (or her song writer - BC Jean, aged 21) ever actually been in a relationship? If they try to run them like this then they are doomed to failure. All relationships are about balance, however, by bringing up daughters to think they are princesses the balance is being shattered. A princess feels she deserves to have absolutely everything she wishes. Some find men who will comply, but the women in such situations become insatiable and a lot of the bad debt in the UK is caused by unsustainable demands in the average household because no-one is willing to say 'let's stop and think if we can afford it' or even 'no'. This is the crux of the matter. On Beyonce's basis any man saying 'no' is simply not listening. What is neglected entirely, is that as adults we can listen and yet still disagree with someone. I accept that people say 'no' sometimes on an irrational basis, but then if you think that you open up dialogue. The female attitude that every request/demand must be complied with or it simply proves that the message has not been heard is very unhealthy and helps wreck relationships. Relationships that succeed are a fine balance that needs constant work from both parties. If one side keeps simply demanding and will not accept any other opinion then it is as much fun as being on a see-saw with one side concreted to the ground.
Relationships are supposed to be about fun are they not? They may be hard work at times, but that hard work is put in so that you can get some fun out of it. If the man is simply fuelling a consumer furnace (or conversely the woman is simply fuelling an eating, sleeping one; I am not saying all men are blameless) then there will never be fun and you might as well not bother. Of course in our societies people may be dependent on others economically and so have fewer options, but basically if you are not having fun with your relationship, why bother? I will be interested to see what the forthcoming movie 'Revolutionary Road' about a couple in small town USA (played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio) triggers off on this issue.
Women, you have to accept that a man you enter into a relationship is a man, he is an adult and so can make choices. These choices may differ from yours but that does not make him necessarily selfish or deaf to what you are saying. Presenting the options is the basis for discussion, and dialogue and debate are the only ways modern day human interaction can prosper whether it is within your family or at work or on the road or in the supermarket or wherever. The problem is, that in contrast to my generation, people are not taught that 'you can't always get all you want', if you admit that these days you are seen somehow as a fool or weak, but it is in fact an eternal truth of humanity and a lot of dissatisfaction arises from not recognising it. Treat your man like a man and talk with him rather than at him. Most men struggle to give their partners everything they want but at times they cannot or disagree that it is the right thing. A different opinion is not a crime (of course US culture's attitude tends to view that differently too, which may be a root cause of a lot of this).
Now, there is one issue on which men do fall down and that is domestic chores. A lot of the statistics come from the USA but it does seem that in the past thirty years the amount of housework done by men has risen by only 15% and time spent with children has trebled. However, men still totally underperform in the household chores. Though women now make up 46% of the workforce in the UK (and about 53% of the total population, though they are far more numerous among the over-65s) they do an average of 3 hours housework per day compared to 1 hour 40 minutes by men. This does not include shopping and childcare. In Spain in 2005, the government introduced a law to compel men to do 50% of the chores in the house. In that country women do up to five times as much housework as men who in turn only spend 13 minutes per day with their children. Men with younger wives and from better educated and better paid jobs are far more likely to do housework than men from lesser paid jobs. When the man earns far more of the income than the woman he is also less likely to work in the home. To some extent this all cuts back to the long hours and low pay that many people are expected to tolerate, especially in the UK. However, it also returns us to the 1970s perspective that running a house is a job for which people should be paid by the state, especially if child rearing is involved. The internet age has helped and being able to order groceries online and shop 24 hours per day in superstores has brought some flexibility. Interestingly men reduce the amount of housework they do when they marry their partner (presumably they feel they have caught her and no longer need to impress her) and after children are born because additional work derived from child rearing is seen as purely the woman's job. Given the rise in women doing 'do-it-yourself' activities such as fixing and installing things, roles that were previously seen as exclusively male, the overall balance of what goes on in the house seems to be tipping even further back towards the women.
Now, many women make the mistake of setting up home with a man who has come straight from his parental home (36% of boys and 23% of girls do no housework while growing up which is a neglectful attitude from parents). It is far better to pick a man who has lived alone for a while. Of course if he lives in utter squalor then pass him by. However, most young men who live alone get themselves together sufficiently to vacuum clean, wash dishes and wash clothing not least so that their property is not a health hazard. Men who rent property have it checked, depending on the landlord/lady, once every 1-6 months so cannot let it get too bad or they will be evicted, something they usually try to avoid. Having found a man you want to live with, talk to him about domestic chores before you start living together. You may be in love with each other but you are also becoming housemates. This may be why better educated men do more housework as they have usually lived away from home (though this is declining in the UK) while at university and been compelled to do chores, often as part of a rota. Another good source of men who can do chores are the armed forces.
Too many women do not talk through these things when the moving in together is being discussed and instead somehow expect the man to know who is to do what. Of course, despite what women think, men are not mindreaders (nor are women) and then she gets frustrated. Do not accuse him of 'not listening' when in fact you have never raised the issue. Talking about washing and cleaning is not sexy, but it helps a relationship run more smoothly. Both US and UK researchers have concluded that women who see their man doing more housework feel they are being treated more fairly and are more likely to engage in sexual activity with that man. How hard is housework? It is boring yes, so put your ipod on or iron in front of your favourite DVD, then it is little different to if you were simply watching TV or listening to music. Also think it is liable to win you more sex too. For some light physical activity you get quite a lot of reward.
Successful, enduring, fun relationships often are founded upon hammering out quite mundane and tedious issues. There is no point starting assuming that the man is incapable of understanding what is needed, you might as well give up right away. Beyonce, labelling men as irredeemable every morning on my radio is not helping gender relationships. Let us have a hit song about a man and woman discussing what has to be done and then getting it on because they feel there is a balance, and above all discussion, not simply dictation, in their relationship. Let us have less 'If I Were A Boy' and more of McFadden & Whitehead's 'Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now' (1979): 'There's been so many things that have held us down/ But now it looks like things are finally comin' around/ I know we've got a long, long way to go/ And where we'll end up, I don't know/ But we won't let nothin' hold us back/ We're puttin' ourselves together, We're polishin' up our act, yeah./'
Beyonce's is probably the worst in which she envisages herself being a man for a day and she portrays the life of a slob not bothering with his appearance, doing bad things he knows he will get away with and being inconsiderate to his girlfriend. The man portrayed has no redeeming features and because she speaks about it generically, not referrring to a particular man it is seen as an admonishment to men in general. She gives not chance for the man, 'because you're just a boy, you don't understand' and never will. It is interesting that the word 'boy' is used especially from a black US artist. Perhaps she has no knowledge of its history. You can photographs from the 1950s of black men with placards saying 'I am not a boy, I am a man', because 'boy' was used to denigrate black men in segregated America to make them seem inferior or at least juvenile. You still hear South Africans (and not just white ones) refer to their 'garden boy' or 'the boy who fixed the car' to refer to black men in menial jobs even this long after apartheid finished. I know that like the word 'nigger' in US culture, boy has to some extent been recaptured as a kind of knock-about phrase, see 'Boyz N The 'Hood' (1991), 'Bad Boys' (1995) and 'Bad Boys 2' (2003) for a young man. However, with one swoop Beyonce has almost reinstated it as a derogatory term.
That is sorted then, why not just go off and become a lesbian because clearly no man stands a chance with you Beyonce. Probably more accurately no woman would either, as a lot of what she is talking about is selfishness. There is a sense that if a partner is not in 100% agreement with what the princess wants then he is not listening properly. Has Beyonce (or her song writer - BC Jean, aged 21) ever actually been in a relationship? If they try to run them like this then they are doomed to failure. All relationships are about balance, however, by bringing up daughters to think they are princesses the balance is being shattered. A princess feels she deserves to have absolutely everything she wishes. Some find men who will comply, but the women in such situations become insatiable and a lot of the bad debt in the UK is caused by unsustainable demands in the average household because no-one is willing to say 'let's stop and think if we can afford it' or even 'no'. This is the crux of the matter. On Beyonce's basis any man saying 'no' is simply not listening. What is neglected entirely, is that as adults we can listen and yet still disagree with someone. I accept that people say 'no' sometimes on an irrational basis, but then if you think that you open up dialogue. The female attitude that every request/demand must be complied with or it simply proves that the message has not been heard is very unhealthy and helps wreck relationships. Relationships that succeed are a fine balance that needs constant work from both parties. If one side keeps simply demanding and will not accept any other opinion then it is as much fun as being on a see-saw with one side concreted to the ground.
Relationships are supposed to be about fun are they not? They may be hard work at times, but that hard work is put in so that you can get some fun out of it. If the man is simply fuelling a consumer furnace (or conversely the woman is simply fuelling an eating, sleeping one; I am not saying all men are blameless) then there will never be fun and you might as well not bother. Of course in our societies people may be dependent on others economically and so have fewer options, but basically if you are not having fun with your relationship, why bother? I will be interested to see what the forthcoming movie 'Revolutionary Road' about a couple in small town USA (played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio) triggers off on this issue.
Women, you have to accept that a man you enter into a relationship is a man, he is an adult and so can make choices. These choices may differ from yours but that does not make him necessarily selfish or deaf to what you are saying. Presenting the options is the basis for discussion, and dialogue and debate are the only ways modern day human interaction can prosper whether it is within your family or at work or on the road or in the supermarket or wherever. The problem is, that in contrast to my generation, people are not taught that 'you can't always get all you want', if you admit that these days you are seen somehow as a fool or weak, but it is in fact an eternal truth of humanity and a lot of dissatisfaction arises from not recognising it. Treat your man like a man and talk with him rather than at him. Most men struggle to give their partners everything they want but at times they cannot or disagree that it is the right thing. A different opinion is not a crime (of course US culture's attitude tends to view that differently too, which may be a root cause of a lot of this).
Now, there is one issue on which men do fall down and that is domestic chores. A lot of the statistics come from the USA but it does seem that in the past thirty years the amount of housework done by men has risen by only 15% and time spent with children has trebled. However, men still totally underperform in the household chores. Though women now make up 46% of the workforce in the UK (and about 53% of the total population, though they are far more numerous among the over-65s) they do an average of 3 hours housework per day compared to 1 hour 40 minutes by men. This does not include shopping and childcare. In Spain in 2005, the government introduced a law to compel men to do 50% of the chores in the house. In that country women do up to five times as much housework as men who in turn only spend 13 minutes per day with their children. Men with younger wives and from better educated and better paid jobs are far more likely to do housework than men from lesser paid jobs. When the man earns far more of the income than the woman he is also less likely to work in the home. To some extent this all cuts back to the long hours and low pay that many people are expected to tolerate, especially in the UK. However, it also returns us to the 1970s perspective that running a house is a job for which people should be paid by the state, especially if child rearing is involved. The internet age has helped and being able to order groceries online and shop 24 hours per day in superstores has brought some flexibility. Interestingly men reduce the amount of housework they do when they marry their partner (presumably they feel they have caught her and no longer need to impress her) and after children are born because additional work derived from child rearing is seen as purely the woman's job. Given the rise in women doing 'do-it-yourself' activities such as fixing and installing things, roles that were previously seen as exclusively male, the overall balance of what goes on in the house seems to be tipping even further back towards the women.
Now, many women make the mistake of setting up home with a man who has come straight from his parental home (36% of boys and 23% of girls do no housework while growing up which is a neglectful attitude from parents). It is far better to pick a man who has lived alone for a while. Of course if he lives in utter squalor then pass him by. However, most young men who live alone get themselves together sufficiently to vacuum clean, wash dishes and wash clothing not least so that their property is not a health hazard. Men who rent property have it checked, depending on the landlord/lady, once every 1-6 months so cannot let it get too bad or they will be evicted, something they usually try to avoid. Having found a man you want to live with, talk to him about domestic chores before you start living together. You may be in love with each other but you are also becoming housemates. This may be why better educated men do more housework as they have usually lived away from home (though this is declining in the UK) while at university and been compelled to do chores, often as part of a rota. Another good source of men who can do chores are the armed forces.
Too many women do not talk through these things when the moving in together is being discussed and instead somehow expect the man to know who is to do what. Of course, despite what women think, men are not mindreaders (nor are women) and then she gets frustrated. Do not accuse him of 'not listening' when in fact you have never raised the issue. Talking about washing and cleaning is not sexy, but it helps a relationship run more smoothly. Both US and UK researchers have concluded that women who see their man doing more housework feel they are being treated more fairly and are more likely to engage in sexual activity with that man. How hard is housework? It is boring yes, so put your ipod on or iron in front of your favourite DVD, then it is little different to if you were simply watching TV or listening to music. Also think it is liable to win you more sex too. For some light physical activity you get quite a lot of reward.
Successful, enduring, fun relationships often are founded upon hammering out quite mundane and tedious issues. There is no point starting assuming that the man is incapable of understanding what is needed, you might as well give up right away. Beyonce, labelling men as irredeemable every morning on my radio is not helping gender relationships. Let us have a hit song about a man and woman discussing what has to be done and then getting it on because they feel there is a balance, and above all discussion, not simply dictation, in their relationship. Let us have less 'If I Were A Boy' and more of McFadden & Whitehead's 'Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now' (1979): 'There's been so many things that have held us down/ But now it looks like things are finally comin' around/ I know we've got a long, long way to go/ And where we'll end up, I don't know/ But we won't let nothin' hold us back/ We're puttin' ourselves together, We're polishin' up our act, yeah./'
Thursday, 24 April 2008
The Little Death that can Kill a Decent Life
The other day I heard that the term 'the little death' was applied to orgasms, and I will start by stating clearly that that is not what I will be discussing in this posting. My view is that the term refers to fear. Given that I am affected greatly by movie references, I probably gathered this from the movie 'Dune' (1984) in which characters refer to fear in this way. Maybe that is drawn from US culture (or given the nature of that film, Arabic culture). The premise of this posting is based on another movie quote, this one taken from 'Strictly Ballroom' (1992) in which a character says, apparently translating from Spanish, that 'a life lived in fear is a life half-lived'. Throughout my life I have aimed to shape my behaviour by such tenets and even the statement by Dolores Ibárruri ('La Pasionara'), a female Spanish politician and soldier who said in 1936 that 'the Spanish people would rather die on its feet than live on its knees' and this was translated into a statement for individuals as on the mural of 'La Pasionara' in Glasgow painted by Arthur Dooley 1971-7. I must say that throughout my life I have utterly failed to live up to any of those statements and in fact have always bottled out of even mildly challenging situations, to the extent that I have a phobia of seeing people embarrassed on television and will turn away or even leave the room.
I can speak in public, talk with strangers, but certainly am phobic of any circumstances even leading to mild embarrassment let alone humiliation. People also believe I am a pessimist, though as you will see from this blog I am very unfortunate in the number of minor things that go wrong in my life and the unnecessary hassle from people. This element is exacerbated by not being very co-ordinated so dropping and breaking things, even walking into furniture, doors, etc. and having a poor memory so I forget to do things and where I have left items. Writing all these traits out actually makes me feel less condemnatory of myself and actually recognise that it is quite an achievement to get through the average day at work.
Maybe it is not simply my fear of what could go wrong which has hampered my life, but that is the one element I can alert you to and encourage you to reflect on what a fear of embarrassment and/or failure might be stopping you doing. In addition, when doing the posting about songs that trigger off nostalgia for me, I recognise that a great deal of it stemmed from missed opportunities in my life. These fall into two broad categories, giving up on establishing relationships and not travelling.
I have always got on well with women and am told that when I write female characters in my stories they are done well. I have always had both male and female friends. Some of the latter, naturally I have hoped would turn into girlfriends. Astoundingly given my unattractive appearance and unpleasant scars on my body, I actually attracted quite a lot of interest from women.
When I was 10 I actually had a 'girlfriend' to the extent that we held hands and kissed each other on the cheek and called ourselves girlfriend/boyfriend to the extent that we knew what that was. We would sit together and play together at break time. However, 10 is too young and I had to endure increasing ridicule from other boys who at that age would have nothing to do with girls. If I had waited four years they probably would have been jealous. Helen was beautiful with lovely long black hair, pale skin and freckles and was very intelligent and had a spirit of adventure, but the ridicule kept me awake at night and I began to spurn her, having no knowledge of how to break off a relationship. She did not understand why I was behaving that way and I was grilled by her parents and my own. Fortunately she went off to a private school. I met her again nine years later, with the hair cut short, and apologised and of course she said it was nothing, her life had moved on a great deal and whereas I in my terribly introspective way still felt guilty for the upset I had caused her, for her it was by now a tiny element of her childhood days. The last I heard she had been in Japan for six years teaching English, suggesting she had retained her adventurous spirit, but that was probably 14 years ago.
That incident then stopped me asking a woman out ever again until I was in my mid-20s. I knew that I had little chance if I asked a woman out and that even if I was not humiliated by her, then I would be by other people or I would screw up the relationship and upset her. I also felt that any other man she would encounter would be preferable to her than me, so I would withdraw even in a basis of a relationship began whenever any other available man appeared on the scene. My feelings of not being able to get it right began fading in the mid-1990s when I was living in Oxford, but were totally reinforced by my treatment at the hands of two women I asked out there. The first rejected me because my job was as a civil servant earning only £8,500 per year and she was incredulous that I worked in such a job and made it clear she could not date anyone who did such a lowly profession. The second was worse. She felt offended that I considered myself to be worthy to ask her out and insisted angrily, via her housemates that I make an apology to her for doing so, in writing which I did.
Such incidents set me back ten years. There were women who were interested in me, but of course I always seemed to go after those who seemed to despise me for one aspect or another. At the time when I rejected advances from women I gave no thought to what impact I made on them I just selfishly thought about why I kept behaving in the same way and how I had avoided some imagined mistake I would have made that would have distressed the woman even further than my rejection. I guess for most modern women, being rejected by one man features very minimally in their life experiences, if at all, and that thought consoles me.
At the age of 16, having had six years with no sight of any relationship (bar some girls at school who when I appeared ill seemed to want to nurse me, not the sound basis for a teenage romance) there was Fahana whose political views were in step with mine (a rarity in my home district). Again, she was very attractive and intelligent, and for some reason and I cannot identify why I reacted so negatively whenever she came and sat near me and made it clear she wanted a relationship. I guess it had to come down to irrational fear, but that made me appear to be so badly behaved. I seemed to be a racist because I could give no rational basis for not wanting to go out with her and she probably felt rather rejected as she was a quiet soul and of course that was the last thing I would have wanted to make her feel, given as teenagers we were all feeling awkward and to some extent spurned by society.
I did not learn from that lesson. When I moved on to college there were a number of women I was interested in and may have been amenable to being asked out, but I could never do it. Then there was Liz, probably the biggest mistake of my life. She was a quiet but fashionable and to me appeared a sophisticated woman with her own style. We chatted easily and she asked me out three times, once via a friend and then twice directly. I do not know why but I always made excuses despite the fact that I was burning to go on even just one date with her. By this time I was 18 and was conscious that compared to the other male students around me I was inexperienced in the ways of women and I always feared I would be a disappointment. I imagine now that actually most of the other students both female and male were less experienced that I envisaged, but no-one tried to convince me of that at the time. Being no good at football in the preceding years at school I had fallen in with the nerds on computers and playing 'Dungeons & Dragons' so there were no friends around to encourage me with Liz. Fortunately after realising she was not going to get anywhere with me she moved on which heartened me a little.
The problem was that I missed yet another opportunity to get any experience in a relationship and time was beginning to run out as once you pass your early 20s no woman is going to pay attention to a man who at least has the basics of kissing, sex and being a reasonable partner. In fact the first woman I slept with was furious when she found out that I had been a virgin when I slept with her. To finish off my college years there was Heather but she was too obsessed with horses to have any time for men and I was not the only one rejected by her. All I got was some pleasant cycle rides home with her.
University followed the same pattern of me chasing unsuitable or disinterested women such as Belinda, Judy, Saskia yet at the same time, notably with Barbara and Rachel, ignoring until they had lost interest women that something could have started with. The one I messed up most with was Anneli, an initially shy woman two years below me, who quickly transformed into a sweet but trendy woman that I fell head-over-heels for. I kept doing odd romantic things that never really came off and that I never followed up. We even went on a date to a university ball, but when she encountered a male friend, I assumed that she would be better off with him and so left them. They did go for a walk by the lake afterwards, so maybe I read his signals better than I read hers. After I had moved on to Oxford she invited me back and it was clear she had a lot of male interest. She wanted me to stay the night, though not to sleep together, but I went home in the evening and wondered what would have happened if I had stayed. I recognise now that that was probably my romantic nature and nothing would have happened, I had screwed up any chance I had had the year before, probably bewildering the poor woman. I do search out these people occasionally online and found the only reference to her was that in 2002 that she had married a wealthy Oxford graduate from a family of admirals and scientists and property developers, so I hope life is treating her well.
Another was Gabrielle who I had met in Germany, a friend of the Liz on her way to Hungary who I mentioned in my last posting. Gabrielle was often in unsuitable relationships so unavailable, but when we both ended up in Norwich we were naturally friends and I ended up in a weird role where I would go shopping with her and do domestic things even buy crockery and household supplies, go to cafes as if I was her husband (or maybe I got it wrong and she saw me as simply like a female friend). Then when between relationships she asked me to stay the night, but knowing me, the minute I saw her contraceptive pills by the bed I ran off, fearful that my incompetence in sex would annoy her. Of course she might not have wanted sex anyway, but what I am saying is that fear stopped me even finding out or seeing if the kind of marital relationship could gain other aspects. Of course many relationships never get very far, you may have a few dates and it come to nothing, but two things: at least then you will know rather than wonder, and even one date is better than none at all.
To go to university with no sexual experience can be a disadvantage, to leave it with none is really too late. The next decade was very lean with me asking out a number of work colleagues and receiving polite rejections with sweet smiles and mad rushing up to women on the underground or in car parks and asking them out because I had been attracted to them in the queue in the supermarket, probably very scary for them. There was Kashifa, but she turned out very quickly to have very politically unsound views regarding Jews so I dropped her not only as a potential girlfriend but as a friend too. Illaria a seemingly very sweet woman who I loved from a distance at work until she revealed actually that she viewed me as very child-like, unsophisticated and the only interest she would expend on me was in a pitying way in order to teach me how to do something I was clearly incapable of doing. She saw all British very much in the same light anyway.
Things did not turn around until another Helen, this time in London. She was in an established relationship that led to marriage but a relationship between us developed, throwing her into doubt about whether she was naturally promiscuous and had been unaware of the fact and a whole lot more. We worked together and then lunched together and things grew from that. I knew a relationship with her would be immoral and I broke it off with her before anything physical developed though she had told me she had been thinking about it. It was not anything to do with pride about not wanting to be 'the other man', more I kept thinking about how I would feel if I was in her partner's position. Even then I bottled out sending her a letter breaking it off, but she ran into me on the way to postbox and it all came out. Her partner was incredibly good about it, unsurprisingly rather prickly, but his manner seems to have enabled him to have got through it and 13 years later they are married parents. The thing about this Helen was that she showed me that I had characteristics that could actually attract a woman, which I had been increasingly unwilling to believe and after her I got into dating agencies and so on and quite a few different dates and even short (sexless) relationships that stop loneliness. I think these days if I saw a woman I was attracted to I would have no fear of asking her out and certainly if one asked me I would not run away in fear, after all what is one date, the worst that can happen is that it goes badly, the best quite a bit more. Many women work on a 3-date principle, they actually have no interest in seeing you in the long-term but like to have 3 dates with you to have someone to accompany them to a restaurant/exhibition/movie they otherwise would not go to. After Date 3 is when things begin to shift either to a conclusion or the beginning of a real relationship.
So fear certainly screwed up my relationships, upset in the short term a number of women and meant that I was ill-equipped for being a male adult in the decades I lived through. Relationships can be fearful, but never turn your back on anyone who shows an interest in you. Many times it will not be the love of your life, but remember if you feel uncomfortable then they must feel ten times worse, go out with them you might have fun. I have found that the women I get on with best in relationships are always very different to the ones I expect so I recommend being open to all the sorts of women you might encounter. Adjust the gender in these sentences as appopriate for your orientation. If you really cannot bear to envisage going out with a person who asks or are attached and they are oblivious to the fact, be firm and snuff out any embers of hope straight off, but ensure you are tactful and polite, never be angry or demand an apology or treat them as if they were scum not fit to even be on the bottom of your shoe, they are only trying to make their way in life after all. See their interest as a compliment not some kind of insult.
The other aspect in which I feel my life was held back by fear was in terms of travel. In terms of disposable income I had far more at certain times in the past than I do now, yet worried about money I turned down invitations to attend weddings in South Africa, Malta and Germany which would have been interesting experiences and in the case of South Africa and Malta those are two countries I have never been to. Even when I was abroad my social unease and my appalling lack of ability with languages stopped me going to events, notably in Germany. Occasionally I would have flashes of courage as when really exploring Berlin's Goth scene and I can only attribute that to the warmth of the people I met on the scene. The only other occasion was in fact when I was at my poorest in that room over the chipshop when I simply set off on my bicycle to France and toured around the Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Somme departements stopping at youth hostels and in rooms over bars. I have no idea where the courage for that came from.
I know in the UK we get horror stories of people being killed or dying abroad but you can be run over in your own home town in the UK. Despite at the age of 24, paying to train to be teach English as a foreign language I found immediately that I had no courage to go abroad and try and get a job. It could have taken me anywhere, into Europe, to Asia, South America, even Africa if I had chosen, but I did not even get to Slovakia. I simply ignored all the jobs on offer that family members and friends passed on to me, saying that I was constantly rejected (in fact even if I had applied that may have been the case as even now I only get an interview for every 25 jobs I apply for and usually have to apply for over 120 jobs before I get one) but in fact I never applied for any of them and instead got a job moving furniture which paid £104 (€135; US$208) per week, which was bad even in the early 1990s. I worried I would be lonely in a strange country with people speaking another language, but in fact I was pretty much like that wherever I ended up in the UK (especially Milton Keynes). I know it would have been tough because I do not make friends easily and relationships as noted here were even harder, so I certainly would not have had the experiences of friends who met their future partners while teaching in France or elsewhere. Yet, at least I would have experienced a different life. I suppose the difficulties I experienced in West Germany with the authorities (I was almost drafted in the Army) where in fact I made loads of (British and Irish) friends probably also weighed heavily against me. Instead I lived at home with my parents and this added to the real sense that I had not really grown up which simply further undermined my ability to deal with women and life's challenges. I suppose you have to face some hardships and discomfort to mature (this is going to be a major problem for current schoolchildren even more cut off from the challenges of the real world as they grow up than even I was).
Even putting aside working abroad, in terms of going on holiday, fear of crime ,especially in Eastern Europe scared me off going to visit Prague and Budapest (both of which I really wanted to visit) let alone going into Russia in the late 1980s to the mid-1990s when things were all still changing. In fact when I heard from two younger women about their exploits unharmed through Russia in fact I felt even more humiliated that I had not done what they had done and came to the pig-headed decision that I could go nowhere without being totally robbed and murdered (I think scare stories on the television did not help), consequently I had only one holiday between 1990 and 1999 and that was in a house rented in Normandy for a week, hardly adventurous (when I went to Prague in 2003 with my work, I found it had far less crime than I had even seen in the UK and people were very friendly and I had a great time. Even then it was still incredibly cheap to stay, visit places and eat out so would have been ideal when I was on a student-sized budget). I once saw an advert on an underground station showing a dreary elderly couple saying 'we almost went to Istanbul once' and I used to take that as a warning to me. As the advert said, 'you never regret the place you have been only missing out on those you have never been to' or some such words. I have never been to Istanbul, St. Petersburg or Budapest.
I used to say it was my friends, all of whom were unadventurous and even more disorganised than me, so never sorted themselves out to get on holiday, bar that trip in 1995 to Normandy. They did not like 'roughing it' in the slightest and on the other hand I was never going to be as robust as my brother spending six months in an army truck going coast-to-coast West to East across the middle of Africa. I alway assume it is me who will get food poisoning, malaria, be robbed or shot. It might be but most of those things (bar malaria) certainly could happen to me here in the UK. I did have some bad experiences such as losing my inter-rail ticket in West Germany in 1988, but I got home quickly and safely, so even my much commented upon bad luck did not entirely ruin things. Trips to the weddings would have been even safer and yet at least exposed me to some other countries, people and cultures.
I regret the lost years of the 1990s when fear stopped me exploring more of the world at a time when I had the time to do those things and also could access discounts for young people. Instead I sat at home, bored and lonely watching programmes reinforcing my fears. Of course if I had found the right woman (any one of the two Helens or the Liz for Hungary would have suited admirably; though of course trips with a partner can severely strain relationships, I know one woman as a consequence who always leaves her husband behind and holidays with female friends) or even just some friends of either sex to go with it would have been very different, but I never mix with people who have any enthusiasm to stray outside the UK. Their fear is greater than mine I recognise or maybe it is simply disinterest and my problem has been the desire to travel and yet not having the courage to do so. Now it is too late as the Belgian fiasco proved. I recommend ignore all the media horror stories, get out there, see places, be the person that when you turn 70 you can say 'do you remember that time when we were in Istanbul?' and not be like me, resembling the dreary couple on the poster who never went anywhere.
This posting has been about facing fears, because they are the little deaths, they chip away at the potential richness of your life until what is left is a dull mundane thing which is not worth living anyway, a state, which as regular readers will know, I have got to. Asking out a couple of people each year, going on one decent trip per year, these are not great tasks, but they could lead to having a much richer existence and hence one that is worth living.
I can speak in public, talk with strangers, but certainly am phobic of any circumstances even leading to mild embarrassment let alone humiliation. People also believe I am a pessimist, though as you will see from this blog I am very unfortunate in the number of minor things that go wrong in my life and the unnecessary hassle from people. This element is exacerbated by not being very co-ordinated so dropping and breaking things, even walking into furniture, doors, etc. and having a poor memory so I forget to do things and where I have left items. Writing all these traits out actually makes me feel less condemnatory of myself and actually recognise that it is quite an achievement to get through the average day at work.
Maybe it is not simply my fear of what could go wrong which has hampered my life, but that is the one element I can alert you to and encourage you to reflect on what a fear of embarrassment and/or failure might be stopping you doing. In addition, when doing the posting about songs that trigger off nostalgia for me, I recognise that a great deal of it stemmed from missed opportunities in my life. These fall into two broad categories, giving up on establishing relationships and not travelling.
I have always got on well with women and am told that when I write female characters in my stories they are done well. I have always had both male and female friends. Some of the latter, naturally I have hoped would turn into girlfriends. Astoundingly given my unattractive appearance and unpleasant scars on my body, I actually attracted quite a lot of interest from women.
When I was 10 I actually had a 'girlfriend' to the extent that we held hands and kissed each other on the cheek and called ourselves girlfriend/boyfriend to the extent that we knew what that was. We would sit together and play together at break time. However, 10 is too young and I had to endure increasing ridicule from other boys who at that age would have nothing to do with girls. If I had waited four years they probably would have been jealous. Helen was beautiful with lovely long black hair, pale skin and freckles and was very intelligent and had a spirit of adventure, but the ridicule kept me awake at night and I began to spurn her, having no knowledge of how to break off a relationship. She did not understand why I was behaving that way and I was grilled by her parents and my own. Fortunately she went off to a private school. I met her again nine years later, with the hair cut short, and apologised and of course she said it was nothing, her life had moved on a great deal and whereas I in my terribly introspective way still felt guilty for the upset I had caused her, for her it was by now a tiny element of her childhood days. The last I heard she had been in Japan for six years teaching English, suggesting she had retained her adventurous spirit, but that was probably 14 years ago.
That incident then stopped me asking a woman out ever again until I was in my mid-20s. I knew that I had little chance if I asked a woman out and that even if I was not humiliated by her, then I would be by other people or I would screw up the relationship and upset her. I also felt that any other man she would encounter would be preferable to her than me, so I would withdraw even in a basis of a relationship began whenever any other available man appeared on the scene. My feelings of not being able to get it right began fading in the mid-1990s when I was living in Oxford, but were totally reinforced by my treatment at the hands of two women I asked out there. The first rejected me because my job was as a civil servant earning only £8,500 per year and she was incredulous that I worked in such a job and made it clear she could not date anyone who did such a lowly profession. The second was worse. She felt offended that I considered myself to be worthy to ask her out and insisted angrily, via her housemates that I make an apology to her for doing so, in writing which I did.
Such incidents set me back ten years. There were women who were interested in me, but of course I always seemed to go after those who seemed to despise me for one aspect or another. At the time when I rejected advances from women I gave no thought to what impact I made on them I just selfishly thought about why I kept behaving in the same way and how I had avoided some imagined mistake I would have made that would have distressed the woman even further than my rejection. I guess for most modern women, being rejected by one man features very minimally in their life experiences, if at all, and that thought consoles me.
At the age of 16, having had six years with no sight of any relationship (bar some girls at school who when I appeared ill seemed to want to nurse me, not the sound basis for a teenage romance) there was Fahana whose political views were in step with mine (a rarity in my home district). Again, she was very attractive and intelligent, and for some reason and I cannot identify why I reacted so negatively whenever she came and sat near me and made it clear she wanted a relationship. I guess it had to come down to irrational fear, but that made me appear to be so badly behaved. I seemed to be a racist because I could give no rational basis for not wanting to go out with her and she probably felt rather rejected as she was a quiet soul and of course that was the last thing I would have wanted to make her feel, given as teenagers we were all feeling awkward and to some extent spurned by society.
I did not learn from that lesson. When I moved on to college there were a number of women I was interested in and may have been amenable to being asked out, but I could never do it. Then there was Liz, probably the biggest mistake of my life. She was a quiet but fashionable and to me appeared a sophisticated woman with her own style. We chatted easily and she asked me out three times, once via a friend and then twice directly. I do not know why but I always made excuses despite the fact that I was burning to go on even just one date with her. By this time I was 18 and was conscious that compared to the other male students around me I was inexperienced in the ways of women and I always feared I would be a disappointment. I imagine now that actually most of the other students both female and male were less experienced that I envisaged, but no-one tried to convince me of that at the time. Being no good at football in the preceding years at school I had fallen in with the nerds on computers and playing 'Dungeons & Dragons' so there were no friends around to encourage me with Liz. Fortunately after realising she was not going to get anywhere with me she moved on which heartened me a little.
The problem was that I missed yet another opportunity to get any experience in a relationship and time was beginning to run out as once you pass your early 20s no woman is going to pay attention to a man who at least has the basics of kissing, sex and being a reasonable partner. In fact the first woman I slept with was furious when she found out that I had been a virgin when I slept with her. To finish off my college years there was Heather but she was too obsessed with horses to have any time for men and I was not the only one rejected by her. All I got was some pleasant cycle rides home with her.
University followed the same pattern of me chasing unsuitable or disinterested women such as Belinda, Judy, Saskia yet at the same time, notably with Barbara and Rachel, ignoring until they had lost interest women that something could have started with. The one I messed up most with was Anneli, an initially shy woman two years below me, who quickly transformed into a sweet but trendy woman that I fell head-over-heels for. I kept doing odd romantic things that never really came off and that I never followed up. We even went on a date to a university ball, but when she encountered a male friend, I assumed that she would be better off with him and so left them. They did go for a walk by the lake afterwards, so maybe I read his signals better than I read hers. After I had moved on to Oxford she invited me back and it was clear she had a lot of male interest. She wanted me to stay the night, though not to sleep together, but I went home in the evening and wondered what would have happened if I had stayed. I recognise now that that was probably my romantic nature and nothing would have happened, I had screwed up any chance I had had the year before, probably bewildering the poor woman. I do search out these people occasionally online and found the only reference to her was that in 2002 that she had married a wealthy Oxford graduate from a family of admirals and scientists and property developers, so I hope life is treating her well.
Another was Gabrielle who I had met in Germany, a friend of the Liz on her way to Hungary who I mentioned in my last posting. Gabrielle was often in unsuitable relationships so unavailable, but when we both ended up in Norwich we were naturally friends and I ended up in a weird role where I would go shopping with her and do domestic things even buy crockery and household supplies, go to cafes as if I was her husband (or maybe I got it wrong and she saw me as simply like a female friend). Then when between relationships she asked me to stay the night, but knowing me, the minute I saw her contraceptive pills by the bed I ran off, fearful that my incompetence in sex would annoy her. Of course she might not have wanted sex anyway, but what I am saying is that fear stopped me even finding out or seeing if the kind of marital relationship could gain other aspects. Of course many relationships never get very far, you may have a few dates and it come to nothing, but two things: at least then you will know rather than wonder, and even one date is better than none at all.
To go to university with no sexual experience can be a disadvantage, to leave it with none is really too late. The next decade was very lean with me asking out a number of work colleagues and receiving polite rejections with sweet smiles and mad rushing up to women on the underground or in car parks and asking them out because I had been attracted to them in the queue in the supermarket, probably very scary for them. There was Kashifa, but she turned out very quickly to have very politically unsound views regarding Jews so I dropped her not only as a potential girlfriend but as a friend too. Illaria a seemingly very sweet woman who I loved from a distance at work until she revealed actually that she viewed me as very child-like, unsophisticated and the only interest she would expend on me was in a pitying way in order to teach me how to do something I was clearly incapable of doing. She saw all British very much in the same light anyway.
Things did not turn around until another Helen, this time in London. She was in an established relationship that led to marriage but a relationship between us developed, throwing her into doubt about whether she was naturally promiscuous and had been unaware of the fact and a whole lot more. We worked together and then lunched together and things grew from that. I knew a relationship with her would be immoral and I broke it off with her before anything physical developed though she had told me she had been thinking about it. It was not anything to do with pride about not wanting to be 'the other man', more I kept thinking about how I would feel if I was in her partner's position. Even then I bottled out sending her a letter breaking it off, but she ran into me on the way to postbox and it all came out. Her partner was incredibly good about it, unsurprisingly rather prickly, but his manner seems to have enabled him to have got through it and 13 years later they are married parents. The thing about this Helen was that she showed me that I had characteristics that could actually attract a woman, which I had been increasingly unwilling to believe and after her I got into dating agencies and so on and quite a few different dates and even short (sexless) relationships that stop loneliness. I think these days if I saw a woman I was attracted to I would have no fear of asking her out and certainly if one asked me I would not run away in fear, after all what is one date, the worst that can happen is that it goes badly, the best quite a bit more. Many women work on a 3-date principle, they actually have no interest in seeing you in the long-term but like to have 3 dates with you to have someone to accompany them to a restaurant/exhibition/movie they otherwise would not go to. After Date 3 is when things begin to shift either to a conclusion or the beginning of a real relationship.
So fear certainly screwed up my relationships, upset in the short term a number of women and meant that I was ill-equipped for being a male adult in the decades I lived through. Relationships can be fearful, but never turn your back on anyone who shows an interest in you. Many times it will not be the love of your life, but remember if you feel uncomfortable then they must feel ten times worse, go out with them you might have fun. I have found that the women I get on with best in relationships are always very different to the ones I expect so I recommend being open to all the sorts of women you might encounter. Adjust the gender in these sentences as appopriate for your orientation. If you really cannot bear to envisage going out with a person who asks or are attached and they are oblivious to the fact, be firm and snuff out any embers of hope straight off, but ensure you are tactful and polite, never be angry or demand an apology or treat them as if they were scum not fit to even be on the bottom of your shoe, they are only trying to make their way in life after all. See their interest as a compliment not some kind of insult.
The other aspect in which I feel my life was held back by fear was in terms of travel. In terms of disposable income I had far more at certain times in the past than I do now, yet worried about money I turned down invitations to attend weddings in South Africa, Malta and Germany which would have been interesting experiences and in the case of South Africa and Malta those are two countries I have never been to. Even when I was abroad my social unease and my appalling lack of ability with languages stopped me going to events, notably in Germany. Occasionally I would have flashes of courage as when really exploring Berlin's Goth scene and I can only attribute that to the warmth of the people I met on the scene. The only other occasion was in fact when I was at my poorest in that room over the chipshop when I simply set off on my bicycle to France and toured around the Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Somme departements stopping at youth hostels and in rooms over bars. I have no idea where the courage for that came from.
I know in the UK we get horror stories of people being killed or dying abroad but you can be run over in your own home town in the UK. Despite at the age of 24, paying to train to be teach English as a foreign language I found immediately that I had no courage to go abroad and try and get a job. It could have taken me anywhere, into Europe, to Asia, South America, even Africa if I had chosen, but I did not even get to Slovakia. I simply ignored all the jobs on offer that family members and friends passed on to me, saying that I was constantly rejected (in fact even if I had applied that may have been the case as even now I only get an interview for every 25 jobs I apply for and usually have to apply for over 120 jobs before I get one) but in fact I never applied for any of them and instead got a job moving furniture which paid £104 (€135; US$208) per week, which was bad even in the early 1990s. I worried I would be lonely in a strange country with people speaking another language, but in fact I was pretty much like that wherever I ended up in the UK (especially Milton Keynes). I know it would have been tough because I do not make friends easily and relationships as noted here were even harder, so I certainly would not have had the experiences of friends who met their future partners while teaching in France or elsewhere. Yet, at least I would have experienced a different life. I suppose the difficulties I experienced in West Germany with the authorities (I was almost drafted in the Army) where in fact I made loads of (British and Irish) friends probably also weighed heavily against me. Instead I lived at home with my parents and this added to the real sense that I had not really grown up which simply further undermined my ability to deal with women and life's challenges. I suppose you have to face some hardships and discomfort to mature (this is going to be a major problem for current schoolchildren even more cut off from the challenges of the real world as they grow up than even I was).
Even putting aside working abroad, in terms of going on holiday, fear of crime ,especially in Eastern Europe scared me off going to visit Prague and Budapest (both of which I really wanted to visit) let alone going into Russia in the late 1980s to the mid-1990s when things were all still changing. In fact when I heard from two younger women about their exploits unharmed through Russia in fact I felt even more humiliated that I had not done what they had done and came to the pig-headed decision that I could go nowhere without being totally robbed and murdered (I think scare stories on the television did not help), consequently I had only one holiday between 1990 and 1999 and that was in a house rented in Normandy for a week, hardly adventurous (when I went to Prague in 2003 with my work, I found it had far less crime than I had even seen in the UK and people were very friendly and I had a great time. Even then it was still incredibly cheap to stay, visit places and eat out so would have been ideal when I was on a student-sized budget). I once saw an advert on an underground station showing a dreary elderly couple saying 'we almost went to Istanbul once' and I used to take that as a warning to me. As the advert said, 'you never regret the place you have been only missing out on those you have never been to' or some such words. I have never been to Istanbul, St. Petersburg or Budapest.
I used to say it was my friends, all of whom were unadventurous and even more disorganised than me, so never sorted themselves out to get on holiday, bar that trip in 1995 to Normandy. They did not like 'roughing it' in the slightest and on the other hand I was never going to be as robust as my brother spending six months in an army truck going coast-to-coast West to East across the middle of Africa. I alway assume it is me who will get food poisoning, malaria, be robbed or shot. It might be but most of those things (bar malaria) certainly could happen to me here in the UK. I did have some bad experiences such as losing my inter-rail ticket in West Germany in 1988, but I got home quickly and safely, so even my much commented upon bad luck did not entirely ruin things. Trips to the weddings would have been even safer and yet at least exposed me to some other countries, people and cultures.
I regret the lost years of the 1990s when fear stopped me exploring more of the world at a time when I had the time to do those things and also could access discounts for young people. Instead I sat at home, bored and lonely watching programmes reinforcing my fears. Of course if I had found the right woman (any one of the two Helens or the Liz for Hungary would have suited admirably; though of course trips with a partner can severely strain relationships, I know one woman as a consequence who always leaves her husband behind and holidays with female friends) or even just some friends of either sex to go with it would have been very different, but I never mix with people who have any enthusiasm to stray outside the UK. Their fear is greater than mine I recognise or maybe it is simply disinterest and my problem has been the desire to travel and yet not having the courage to do so. Now it is too late as the Belgian fiasco proved. I recommend ignore all the media horror stories, get out there, see places, be the person that when you turn 70 you can say 'do you remember that time when we were in Istanbul?' and not be like me, resembling the dreary couple on the poster who never went anywhere.
This posting has been about facing fears, because they are the little deaths, they chip away at the potential richness of your life until what is left is a dull mundane thing which is not worth living anyway, a state, which as regular readers will know, I have got to. Asking out a couple of people each year, going on one decent trip per year, these are not great tasks, but they could lead to having a much richer existence and hence one that is worth living.
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