Picnic in the Park

When I woke up in the morning, all I could hear were little whimpers and groans, and so I got up out of bed, fetched a bottle of water from the fridge, and handed it to him.  I guess I should believe him when he says he was too drunk the night before to remember what he said.  And at least it made me feel a bit better to know that he was suffering for his poor behaviour the night before...

Once he was feeling a bit better, we went out and did some grocery shopping to have food for the picnic we were going to, and get him a coffee.  It was kind of fun wandering through the grocery store, just doing the usual shop, debating what to get and pulling together a fairly decent picnic spread.  Even though the picnic wasn't due to start until noon, he seemed hyper to get there, and when we arrived I realised we were there quite early.  Even worse, I didn't know almost anybody there besides the host, and the other chaps were...well, a bit dull.

Brightly coloured trousers seemed to be a theme of the day

The worst was, I'd brought him here, and I didn't know what else to do but try to make the best of it.  So we hung out chatting with people, I texted both Sophie and the Young Dutchman (where on earth were they?) and we mostly just were our usual polite social selves.

Wheelbarrow Races

The Young Dutchman texted to say he wasn't coming (grrrr...), while Sophie eventually showed up later.  More people arrived, and we engaged in a few games, from wheelbarrow races (gosh that hurt my core muscles, need to build them up!), to racing with girls on guys' shoulders (I suppose I should have let the Tall South African carry me, but I was a bit too self-concious about how heavy I am), and races with the guys riding on the backs of the girls.

Guys carrying the girls (or guys) for races

I was a bit bored, on the whole, but not wanting to leave, as then I was sure that would mark the end of my time with the Tall South African.  After all, he'd been telling me that he was going to head home this evening, and I was sure that as soon as I called time on the BBQ, he would want to go.  So when he first asked me if I wanted to go, I said "no", even though I did really want to go.  I was bored, this crowd was tedious, and just full of people who were way drunker than I was.

I only lasted about another hour however, before I really did reach my limit, and so sidled over to the Tall South African and asked if we could go.  He laughed, said of course, and so we packed up, said our good-byes and left.  At which point he said, "Do you think we still could make it to that running club event if we left now?"  Goodness, why hadn't I thought of that earlier?

We then had to give everyone in shorts or skirts a photo

So called the folks down there, they were all still there partying, so we figured out we needed to catch a train from London Bridge, and ran for it.  Got to the station, asked one of the helpful "Games Makers" (love those guys!) for info on when the next train to Dulwich went, and then realising it was going in just two minutes, ran for the train.  My knee isn't quite up to running yet, and so it was a bit sore as we jumped on the train, but as the doors closed mere seconds behind us, it was a good thing I'd run!

Although, it then turned out that we were on a train to East Dulwich, not West Dulwich like we needed, so we were going to have to take a bit of a long walk through the park to get there.  Yet, it was a nice walk, where he very perceptively noted that I'd been ready to go a long time beforehand, but hadn't been honest with him.  So I told him about how I hadn't wanted him to go quite yet, and he laughed, and assured me that there were plenty of other things we could do, and I should just always be honest with him.

A photo for all those in jeans or chinos

This conversation about being honest with each other led to a lot of talking about what we REALLY think about things, including how much we like each other but acknowledge the impossibility of dating due to our age difference.  He just doesn't want to settle down for another 7-8 years, and he is quite insistent that I need a guy who is ready sooner than that.  I know he's right, but...I guess I always thought when I found a guy where it was the easy, "I like you, and you like me" situation, we'd just be done with it.  Instead, we are nuts about each other and agreeing there's no future for us and have to date other people.  It's kind of ridiculous, in its way, but given that I wasn't ready to settle down when I was 24, why should I expect he would be?  He's absolutely right, as much as I hate to admit it.  Still, it was nice just to outright talk about how much we like each other, which was good for my ego, at least!  

We arrived at the running club party, where they also solved the problem of what I should do about dinner for the Tall South African, by turning out to have a ton of leftover food from the BBQ, and insisting that we eat.  Had a great time hanging with Matt, Kitty and Cookie, and the Tall South African was happy to catch up with Sweetheart again.  (His man-crush on Sweetheart is really rather cute!)

Eating BBQ out in the field by sunset.  We should have done this sooner.

In the end, we found ourselves inside at the bar, watching Jessica Ennis win the heptathalon in spectacular style, as she was leading the pack, got overtaken and boxed in, and the commentators kept assuring us, "It's okay, she only needs to come in 3rd", since the event is based on the number of points achieved over several events.  Yet, you could tell she just wasn't having any of this "coming in 3rd" nonsense, and so she swung wide outside the group, ran the longer way around, re-took the lead and won the whole race, winning her gold medal in style.  Everyone in the bar was cheering at the top of their lungs, it was such a great night!  

Then, when I thought things couldn't get any better for Team GB, we watched Mo Farah dominate the 10000m to win and have everyone screaming and cheering for our British hero.  As well, there was a long-jumper who won gold too, except we kind of missed it amidst all of the cheering for so many other Brits! 

Finally, it was truly late, and the Tall South African pointed out to me that he hadn't been home to feed his cats in days.  (In truth, as much as I love having him around, I was feeling rather guilty about this as well).  So at around 11 PM, we said our good-byes, made our way back into London, got his stuff, and I waved him off to catch his train home.  So much fun to have him around, so sad to see him go!  But what a fun time we had...