About You

LL

About You

Bit of a misnomer as the first part is about me...and the very last part about you. Just to let you know I am in London this weekend  and early next week, before traveling a little farther afield.

Now to you - remember August 2003? The lake, the restaurant, the seaside and the pub...then the hotel? I do, that's where it all started.

I often think of you and that first meeting. I think of the slim lively woman I met then, who was refreshing to be with and ... who I fell in love with ... at that time. I enjoyed her company and traveled from afar to see her as often as I could. We enjoyed some good holidays together and some not so good ones. It is from the latter that I take my cue for what followed and how I fell out of love with her.

It became apparent at quite an early stage that she was quite promiscuous. Seeing other men while taking advantage of my devotion to her. But one day on holiday here in the USA, she slipped up, under the influence of a few glasses of wine and blurted out that she had seen a previous guy whilst with me. She actually blurted out the date rather than the incident, but that was enough.

Later when we parted for good in 2005 - she had been seeing another man, as round as he was high, for 7 months - she believed she had hidden that, and at least two previous liaisons, from me. Any one in my life gets two chances, but not three. Third strike and she was out, although I let her believe she had done the leaving. In fact, in all practical respects, I had left after the first discovery.

Despite the fact that I took my cue from her actions, I found it hard to let her slip away, but trust is very important to me and she lost my trust, my respect and ultimately my love for her.

She has been very foolish because what she has now settled for is far from what she might have enjoyed. Talking of which..... here's an update on a blog for you from 2011...

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I spent a good part of the last weekend on Sanibel at our cottage, in the sun, under the palms looking out over the ocean on our doorstep (literally). We had the boat out and spent time lounging and fishing. Just the two of us.

Which brings me to why I am writing this (I know you follow me, of course - not sure why, but you haven’t quite let go have you ;-) …. because you know you got it all wrong 12 years ago...bit late sadly, for you.

Now the reason I am writing this is to give you an outline on my various homes and the fun I/we have with them and the plane and boat. You have seen photos of both of the latter and some of the former...so you can imagine a little. Some of the locations you have been to, the places not the homes, and some you will never go to.

My life, and love life, have changed out of all recognition to the life you saw me lead (or thought you saw me lead...).

Starting with over here. You will have seen the San Diego home in the photos I put up once and also, I think, our home in Portland Or. The former is, as you saw,ultra modern both in its architecture and the interior design we had carried out. We love it and it’s very Californian. Architecture and interiors vary around the country as you can imagine in a country of this size.

So the Oregon house is classic colonial in style - a really warm and cosy place and feel to it. You might imagine with all these places they stay empty for a good part of the year but they don’t as Ash has quite a large and extended family who travel lots. We also allow close friends to use them - no cost. I think I once offered you the same...but only you. That offer was taken off the table some time ago.

Here in Florida, investments aside, our home is gorgeous. This is our real home and no expense has been spared. We have 8 plus bedrooms (all with bath) on three floors, all the other usual rooms and a home cinema. I love this place it’s one of the best places I have ever had.

The New Hampshire home is modern but more rustic and homely with some Shaker touches. That is what I call our ‘country’ home. I can shoot, fish and hunt there...and ski...after a fashion! I’m not the expert - my wife is. I’m better at shooting - bit of a dead-shot, actually:)...training, I guess.

We have a modern apartment on the Upper East Side, New York also. The other additions in the US are our Massachusetts home and a place in Sanfarncisco - we sold the old one and moved on. I'll post some photos

In Paris we have a charming apartment in the 15th Arrondissement. If you don’t know where that is, it very close to the center. In London our home is now in Knightsbridge - a house. This is furnished in English style. Quite central. I keep my UK Aston and Bentley garaged close by.

We adore Venice (yes, there are long sandy beaches there...across the lagoon on the Lido)...who wouldn’t. We have an apartment there - not too far from the Fondamenta Nuove and of course another home in Sorrento that you already know about - at least I think you do. With a new place in Barcelona and a delightful home in Carcassonne, France and the house in Denia that’s about it apart from Oz. We sold up in Skyros some years back...for obvious reasons

In the wonderful Land of Oz we have a house, single storey, on a large plot south of Brisbane and close to the shore...plus the apartment, I think you have seen, in Noosa Heads. We’ll be there again later this year

We rotate round the lot every 24 months. With the young wife I have, I don’t feel the nearly 67 (going on 68) years that I am now - I think I told you that my dis-information extended to my age...a test for you, that you failed:)

I see that you have redecorated a lot of your home. The lounge certainly looks a lot better:) His place, although modern with its beech doors and chrome door handles is pretty mundane by my standards... a hard act to follow, you said, and I was and am. You were very foolish in your actions - me only mildly so...and those of mine (actions) were expunged from the record almost immediately. I'll leave you to figure out why and how. Yours, morally speaking, never will.

We have both ‘traveled’ since late 2005. You a little, me a lot. I always said the last laugh would be mine and it has been (of course I knew it would - because you never knew my true worth etc). But I don’t gloat - I just feel that in describing my life it serves to point out how difficult it would have been for you. I never thought you were going to be up to it and I was right. I ‘stooped’ down to reach you but decided to let you fall from my grasp once I learned more about you. Trust is at the core of everything and I couldn’t trust you...and I was right in that regard. You knew that but were very impetuous and foolish.

So that is just part of my life now. A life that could have been yours... to share with me. But you as you said yourself (‘why do I always get things wrong P’) you were too hasty and too given to impulse.

You convince yourself that you have a good life with him, but of course you don’t really when you put it under the magnifying glass...and you know it:) ...and I know it. It’s not a life...merely an ‘entertainment’.

Your mention of ‘flaunting’ in the past is wrong - it’s fact not flaunt, but if you want to place that interpretation on it then any ‘flaunting’ is just for you.....to remind you of how foolish you have been. I haven't mentioned cars and the plane -a Gulfstream. - in this blog. 

Nor have I mentioned how much I cared for you back then. Yes I was in love with you. My stomach did somersaults each time I saw you and, as I said once a long time ago, I wasn't going anywhere...but you did... and that destroyed me for a while (long before 2005, incidentally). You probably have no idea what you did to me and I don't think you cared, which was a lot harder for me to understand. But that is all history now...and so are you.

I can't imagine nearly 11 years with that lump of a man, but for my part, I exchanged you for someone beautiful, sophisticated and very, very sexy. Before I met her I had the time of my life as my blogs elsewhere demonstrate.

Moving on to another destination this week. I'll tell you where when we get there.

Ciao

Banishing Ghosts from the Past

Like the men before me, I suspect you have tried to banish me from your mind, but I don't think you can. That is partly evidenced by your posts. There are 'ghosts' in your past and I think they play a part in your mind in those quiet moments, however hard you try to exorcise them

Then there is the fact that you know you made completely and utterly the wrong decision. You wouldn't be human if you didn't think about 'what if'.

I wanted you to commit on merit, not commit based on wealth or my probable lifestyle. You couldn't do that, partly because you couldn't stay away from other men. Obviously, I learned this a little later than your actual involvement with them. I gave you two chances after October 2005. I wasn't going to give you a third chance.

I guess you couldn't leave him, even though you had spent over two years with me and substantially less with him, because you weren't about to move far and he was a lot nearer than me. Fear, I think played it's part. Not of me, but of him and what his reaction might have been. In the end you did commit, but to the wrong guy. You know that and I know that. The 'high and dry' would never have happened, even though you thought it might. I wasn't and am not that kind of guy.

Room Service Hollywood Style

Here I am driving around in an Aston Martin  in San Diego a couple of days ago and then there's your life.... I think you cannot quite believe you have gotten things so wrong...but you do have a track record in that respect....don't you!

Over the weekend I took a jaunt to an old haunt here in California...bit of rhyming going on there...or is it rhythm. So below are a few photos that probably won't give you any idea where it was. Let's just say it was along an Interstate. As you know it never rains in California  so have had quite a good weekend. Back East now and Europe appears on the horizon come April/May.

Beach at San Diego

Still some snow on the mountains

Walked this 20 years ago

How are things over there? I see 'his highness' had headed east to see the Hun. More seriously. I am always here if at any time in the future you may need some kind of support. You only have to ask LOL...but of course, you won't.

I guess by now, some ten plus years later, that I was quite a busy man after I found out about your activities. You may have thought that you passed up on me, which in a manner of speaking you did. But I was never going to be slow off the mark, as evidenced by the blogs you may have read. This link will take you into them.

In a way I was overwhelmed. Not by you leaving, but by the female opportunities out there. From early on until very late 2006, I enjoyed one of the most pleasurable times of my life and I was able to travel, unencumbered by the demands of any one but my adult children.

There are many things I love in life but travel and women topped my list and I got plenty of both back then. I recall you saying there are plenty of women out there wanting to get laid. For once you were right, but....I already knew that.

As to travel. I really did do a lot of that as you have read in the past. I'm still doing it as evidenced by this image. If you can't read the second one it says Bilinga, QLD where we stopped for gas once, last year.

I'll leave you with this to view and wonder about. It is someone I live with every day :-)

Ciao

One Tenth

You have around one tenth of the people who follow me and none that are relevant to what you post. Therefore, it must be for my 'edification' in the main. I wouldn't bother, because none of it impresses in the slightest way. Some sort of mediocre flaunt, I guess. It would be more entertaining if you posted something  meaningful.

Am I meant to be impressed by what you eat and the site of a large lump of lard?

One of my mantras in life was to 'Hope for the best, plan for the worst'. It stood me in good stead over the years (in fact it was 'borrowed' by a friend of mine and now figures with some regularity in his books). The other mantra was 'Three strikes and you're out'. Or, if you like, 'I'll ask twice but not three times'. You'll get my drift on the last two in relation to faithfulness and commitment.

The first one is where I always have a back up plan and in your case it was to make sure I wasn't left 'high and dry'. The one thing you thought I might do to you, although you had no thoughts as to how it might have left me. I never would have left you high and dry that sort of behavior is not in my genes, but it was in yours. Either that or fear of the fat man. Looking back you were never going to be for me because of the following traits - selfish and untrustworthy. I suppose being an only child had something to do with your being so 'me' orientated.

We had a great weekend in Miami with friends while you were having an Italian lunch over there. It seems a lifetime ago that I was in the same place having fish stew/soup. You see, I remember these things :).

Now we are in Los Angeles, California soaking up some sun. Not a bad life is it. At least we avoided all the razzmatazz of the Oscars! Getting a slot for our flight was not easy but we managed to get into Orange County. Not sure whether you realize, but most times on longer trips neither of us drive. I have Luis in Florida, who drives for us, John in the UK, another John in New England,  and Al here in California. All these guys look after the cars, too.

We still drive of course but it's great being driven on the longer Interstate trips when we don't fly.

We have a full year of trips this year, apart from the normal European visit and Australia. One is another trip to South Africa. I remember you warning me off going there. Maybe you did have some feelings after all...then. I went anyway and I am very glad I did. It was great.

I guess you have gotten yourselves all booked up for Spain again. What fun! I don't think. Surely, by now you must realize that you made an enormous mistake back in 2004/5. Too late now, but still a mistake. I think I have aged better too, don't you. Weight is still the same a little grayer but not completely, yet. Then there's you. All those food photos and what they entailed (eating) have taken their toll on that slim figure I once knew...intimately.

Returning to my opening remarks. Are we going to see more meaningful posts or even an email (I won't 'tell' if you don't). Probably not - there was no courage there in 2005, and there is probably none now.

Heigh ho - keep smiling at my good fortune, wealth and happiness through your gritted teeth :))))

Check out my location and the property prices,

Here's something that made me smile. Remember the song.

Ciao - life for me.... is ...perfick!