Hit the ground with a slam!

Now I know I said this one wasnt for marrying but when he told me the other day after 4 dates that he just wanted to be friends I felt like I got smacked in the face!

Yes 4 dates, you know what that means, funny isn't how he couldnt have worked this out after date 2?!?!?!

Of course to spite myself i actually started to like this guy. Why? Cos of course he was gorgeous, super sweet and he was laying it on thick making plans for new years, ski weekends and bringing me out with his friends!! What an elaborate play!! I should have feckin realised something was up he was being perfect! An obvious warning sign!!

Anyway I'm going to get a cat f*ck this!

Extremely hot barman update

Did you ever see that episode of sex and the city where Samanatha fought to the death (by eating raw food) and waited til the end of Smiths shift so she could score him? Well that was me last night. This was the 3rd time I was in the bar since I laid my eyes on him and I was determined that last night I was either going to close or move on!

So I got there with my tuesday night cheap cocktail crew around 9.30. I could have gone later as the place didn't close til 2! Luckily today is a public holiday in France! And also luckily my crew were with me in this to the death challenge. He was happy to see me and threw us a few rounds on the house! The place was jammed so we didn't get to talk but as me and the gang based ourselves at the bar we exchanged a lot of looks over the bar!

When they were closing up and chucking everyone out, he asked where we were going next. I must have looked blank (well I hadn't planned that far ahead!) so he suggested a couple of places nearby. I chose one and told the gang thats where we were headed. I had to bribe them by promising to buy the beers but fair play to them they came!

He joined us there after he closed and he was super attentive from the get go! No awkwardness there at all. at 4.30 my crew decided to hit the road and I went with them. He asked for my number and asked me to do something Thursday night! Then there was the goodbye kiss which was swoon worthy!

Needless to say I skipped off down the street. We decided to walk home as we were either too lazy or too cheap to flag a cab (think alot of caipirihinas at this stage) and while we were giggling down the street near my apartment we went past the police station. Three good looking on duty policemen were standing outside and I greeted them with a rousing 'bonsoir'! (Not sure about the appropriateness of a good evening at 5am!). One of the girls needed to pee so she batted her eyelashes and they let her use the station one! While she was powdering her nose, the cops chatted us up and when she came out (with freshly applied lipstick?! what at 5am?!!) the guys said come back anytime, we can get a drink together! I was like shhhhhhuuuuurrrrrreeee!!

When ya got it ya got it, and we obviously had it last night B) Yay!

There are some men you marry....

So as per expected when OF left I went through the usual, 'i never want to be with another man again' etc etc

Luckily for me a few weeks into this lament a good friend (who is also very handsome) took me out for dinner. We were talking about the sorriness of our love lives and how we felt about everything, which was in fact exactly the same. I asked innocently 'well then why aren't we together', a question which shocked both of us, and his answer was basically 'i don't know'. At the time however I was still in OF psychosis and we both knew it. But the question stayed in the back of mind and slowly I began to see the possibility of being with someone else, namely him! However I was being very cautious about it as dating friends can possibly lead to disaster and the last thing you would want to do is hurt your friend as you've seen them hurt before and its not pretty.

Anyway I finally got the balls up to say to myself, yeah I could do this and I asked him out for a drink on a night that my horoscope said was going to be very fortuitous! And murphys law being what it is the first thing he told me is how he has been dating this girl for two weeks and he really likes her! Crash and burn! So me being me I told him, 'oh thats a pity, because I asked you here to talk about us." Anyway timing being timing, it wasn't our time.. so that was that!!

I didn't really mind as I thought it was a good idea but it was more like a good idea to try than any major feelings. However I am grateful for the whole situation as it got me in the mindframe of being available again. And being available again meant I started to go out again and I found a new favourite bar. One because its cool and the drinks are cheap but two because there is a super hot barman there!

And this leads me to there are some men you marry. Barman has been flirting with me incessantly and there is definitely some serious chemistry between us. And initially I lost the run of myself and had imagined a relationship between us. But luckily that quickly went out of my head and now I realise this guy is just going to be a whole lot of hot sexy fun and thats the end of it! But thats ok too.. I'm certainly not ready for a relationship but I am definitely ready to get back in the game! (note i said in the game and not on the game there!!)

In other news I'm doing Nanowrimo, so I've undertaken to write a 50,000 word novel by the end of novemebr, so what am I doing here writing this as it doesnt count. Its going a bit chick litty for my liking at the moment, but hopefully some good stuff with appear soon!

Will update on gorgeous barman if there are any updates!

The great turnaround!

Oh lads, the last six weeks or so have been dark dismal and bloody hard! But in good news its all worked out in the end..

First up as previously reported, both OF and Kryptonite departed for pastures new, the same pastures new I'll have you know, at the opposite end of the world, in the same week. Now these two feckers don't even know each other... how is that for my luck?! In summary it turned out that the major love was for OF and Kryptonite was a delicious sexy and fun fallback every time OF was wrecking my head/breaking my heart. The impending departure of OF really intensified our on/off relationship, in that we basically became inseparable for the 3 months before he left. This of course was a disastrous plan as it made his leaving even harder. Like wailing tears, tearing my hair out, bat shit crazy hard! Oh yes the joys, the joys. Anyway we are currently keeping contact minimal, because despite the desire to be on skype 24 hours a day from both sides, its over and when its over... well its over and the quicker we all move on the better!

Kryptonite left 2 days later. I was sad to see him go but happy for him. As we all know despite being delicious and sexy that boy is BAD news!

Luckily enough to stop myself jumping off the eiffel tower my brother took me on a surfing holiday down the basque country for a week, which was lovely. We camped at the beach, he surfed, i perved on hot surfers (who were EVERYWHERE) and just generally chillaxed.

This got me over the initial pain of the departure but then when I got back it just hit me big time. This was due my life falling to pieces, the big bucks job just didn't materialise as promised and I was facing up to a future pulling pints and being broke!

So after about a week of wailing around Paris with a cloud over my head I pulled myself together and decided feck this I'm moving to London. I have friends there, should be easier to get work and to top it all its a civilised country ( I was feeling very anti french at the time). So there it was resolved. I set up some interviews for the beginning of november, booked my eurostar and started making plans.

Then just last weekend I got a call out of the blue, someone I had briefly done some work for recommended me for a teaching job at a great university here in Paris and they were interested! And I started last wednesday! Mad! And since that two more university jobs have turned up! Now these are all freelance and the streets aren't lined with gold just yet, but it means I can keep my finger in my chosen profession without having to practice and teach which is something I really love doing!

So it all turned around again and now I'm staying in Paris. I still haven't really gotten my head around how all of this is going to work but I'm going with the flow!

Hopefully now I can go back to having some fun! Misery be gone!! :D

One month?!

How is it that it was the 9th of August since I last posted!! What the?? Things have been mad... I was back in Ireland for a weekend teaching a dance workshop. I also brought OF (as friends!) and we stayed with my family. It was lovely. Then it was work work work and then I was in London for 5 days for more dancing.

The days in between were hard going in Paris. Working in the bar is really getting on my wick, especially as its really badly paid and I get feck all hours, but I just have to hang on in there as proper work should be kicking off in the next 3 weeks, which means I should only have to work in the bar for maybe six more weeks... knock on wood.

Anyway back to the Pompier. First of all fireman Basil has disappeared off the face of the earth. He chased me all night, snogged me, asked for my number and then disappeared, nothing nada rien. However Fireman Sam kept dropping by all the time. One night he came into the bar and I have to say I plied him with drink. Anyway he kept grabbing my hand and holding on to it for agggesssss and asking when we were going out together etc etc. At the end of the night he kissed me right on the lips and basically full on snogged me without me realising! Of course I swiftly manoeuvred my head .. as I had no excuse for full on public PDAs as I was at work and stone cold sober!

Anyway next night I was working and was happy as a lark hoping he would come in again. He didn't but a few other guys including a new guy fireman Elvis sat at my bar. I proceeded to make them all sorts of shots and we were having lots of fun. Elvis was flirty flirty with me and I was doing my barmaid best and flirty flirty back. Well if nothing else its an amusing way to pass a normally very boring long shift. They left just as I was closing the doors and we were doing the whole bises thing (you know the french kisses on cheeks) when Elvis, in what is obviously a fully trained Paris fireman move, moved his head to catch me right on the lips and dove in with his tongue! I never jumped so quick in my life!

So now you can imagine the talk down the firestation.. oh la la .. la irlandaise.. elle est chaude!

Next day I was outside the bar when I saw a firetruck coming down the road, with Sam sitting up front and Elvis in the back. It slows down as it passes and Elvis leans out the window, shouting my name and blowing me kisses! Needless to say the look on Sam's face was priceless!

This was all getting a bit complicated because now Elvis starts coming in regularly to work. Now although he is super muscly, gorgeous and very cheeky, he's not the pompier for me and Sam went AWOL. Luckily a week later I was sitting in the bar having a drink and he rocks up and was delighted to see me. He buys me a few drinks and suggests that we have dinner once a week 'to practice his english'. His english is certainly not my main area of interest but I said yes of course. He also told me his next holidays and asked would I go away with him?!

Anyway since then he's been away on holidays as of course he is a diving instructor too.. and is just back from 3 weeks in the med... we'll see if he ever calls..

However in good news I have finally learned not to chase guys.. I have shown remarkable restraint lately with men. They show interest, they ask for my number/email. They add me as a friend on facebook.. I let them make all the moves.. and if they dont make enough of an effort.. I don't even care.. I say 'next'! Long may it last!

Paris Firemen

I have given this alot of research and consideration and I think that to become a Paris Pompier you have to be gorgeous, brave, super sweet, a heartbreaker and of course look good in red and navy!

I have become somewhat of an expert in the Paris fire brigade in the last few months. There is a huge fire station a few doors down from where I work and as any single girl in her right mind would, I became quickly acquainted with the lads. You know starting off with 'hellos' and smiles, then progressing on to conversations when we started recognising each other and then very rapidly to the 'bises' (the french kiss on both cheeks).

Already at this stage I am in my element but then they start talking about their preparations for the Bal des Pompiers, which is a huge party that each firestation throws as a fundraiser every year on the 13th and 14th July. They basically open the doors of the firestation and have a wild champagne fuelled night!

A few weeks before the big night I started to become very neighbourly with one pompier in particular, me giving him freeze pops on very hot days, him giving me all sorts of firemen merchandise that they were raffling on the street etc. Lets call him Fireman Sam. He kept checking everytime i saw him that I was still coming, and promising me endless champagne on him that night. I may as well mention at this stage that Sam is GORGEOUS. Dark eyes, dark skin, the brightest blue eyes you ever saw and well, like all the others a body to die for!

The morning of the big day dawns and 25 firemen rock in to my bar as soon as I open the doors. I am not one to be easily flummoxed but I basically became a gibbering wreck in the presence of all that testosterone! They hung around for most of the day, disappearing for lunch and then Sam and a few of his equally gorgeous friends coming back later in the afternoon in their dress uniforms! Needless to say I was so excited about that night at this stage I was like a teenage girl at a Jonas Brothers concert!

I ran home after work, got as dolled up as fabulous as possible, while simultaneously whipping my flatmates up into a frenzy. We arrived to the firestation fashionably late and there was a line to get in down the road, around the corner and up another road.. basically a 2 hour wait. I was still high as a kite so I marched straight to the front of the line with the girls and luckily one of the guys on the door recognised me and we walked straight in.

It was a huge event. The firestation is huge as the lads also live there and there were thousands of people, a big stage with a live band, another club type area and bodies pressed up against each other everywhere. Most importantly there were firemen in uniforms everywhere! Even better they were all recognising me and putting champagne in my hand at every turn!

I couldn't find Sam in the melee but another fireman, lets call him Basil came over to me, all delighted to see me. Now for the life of me I didn't recognise him, but he knew me, so that was enought for me to bluff my way through! He was gorgeous of course but also very sweet and basically became our guide/minder/champagne bottle holder. He grabbed my hand about 5 minutes in and just didn't let go. Now obviously Sam had been the target for the evening, but it was hard to resist such persistance from Basil and eventually I caved and snogged him! To be honest at that stage I had so much champagne its all just a blur, but my flatmates confirm that there was quite alot of french kissing going on, so high five me!

Anyway a while later Basil had to disappear because he went on shift at 2am and I met up with some lads that I work with and finally we found Sam. However I was too late and he was kissing some dodgy looking french girl. However I was one to talk, so it didn't really bother me. He however was good on his word, got us into the VIP area and plyed us with champagne. I came up with a great plan and sent my friend and work colleague Zoolander (obv not his real name, but he's a model) to run interferance to ensure that Sam's snog did not turn into a relationship! I in my clear champagne minded state ordered him to get in between Sam and dodgy and flirt his arse of with her. Ruthless I know. Luckily for me he is a good friend and he did as he was told. At this stage however I was a bit messy so in no fit state to swoop in and steal my prize or in fact make any sort of good impression, so I spent the rest of night no doubt drooling over my friends and having a great laugh (not that I remember much!).

Anyway I had my last glass of champagne at 6am and some how managed to find myself in a taxi home with a guy with one leg going to the 19th. Can't really work out what happened but I got home eventually and I have to say that night may have in fact been the best night ever of my whole entire life! It was one of those nights where I was so excited for it and it totally lived up to all expectations!

Unfortunately I had to work the next morning and rocked in to work on time but unfortunately still drunk and died for the rest of the day. Luckily some of the lads including Sam and Basil came into keep me company, but it took me 2 weeks to get over that hangover!!!

But the story does not end there... tune in next time for developments with Fireman Sam, a minor drama with a newcomer interloper Fireman Elvis... and well what ever happened to Fireman Basil????

Foreign Girls

Olivier over at Stuff Parisiens Like wrote a very interesting post about foreign girls. It has actually cleared alot up for me.

In short I have found Parisien girls are bitches. This is of course a great generalisation but there you go. If you are out for a night with a bunch of parisiens, you can have great fun with the guys but the girls just sit there looking miserable, in black, smoking cigarettes and throwing you daggers.

Now it is no underestimation that I get asked out/for my number nearly every day in Paris. Now loathe that I am to underestimate myself but I am not the hottest girl in the planet! I'm no hunchback of Notre Dame either but somewhere safely in the middle! The reason for this I think is because mostly I am smiling, I have a positive attitude, and I will take the chance to have fun whenever it comes! I also on ocassion wear low cut tops and have more than a few drinks. I certainly wouldn't think of myself as a slut (however what slut would!) but I've never had a one night stand with a stranger.. and I know lots of girls who have and I wouldn't consider them sluts either!

Anyway my development on from Oliviers post is that french men, despite finding foreign women attractive and lots of fun, always go back to their roots. This is my excuse anyway for why the french men I have met seem to be mad about me but never want to convert it into a relationship. So foreign women seem to be just good for fun. If a paris guy kisses a paris girl they are basically boyfriend and girlfriend. They just don't seem to feel obligated in the same way to foreign girls...

Hmmmm or maybe I just havent met the right one, or maybe I just need to stop eating, get miserable, take up smoking and start wearing black and I too will find a boyfriend!