Monthly Archives: March 2012

Those Soho Nights

It’s days like these I remember why I moved to this crazy city, and why I stayed.

Monday was mental all day – a photoshoot and a bucketfull of drama, and I spent the evening drinking too much wine at the National (against the backdrop of some culture, obvs). Tuesday was equally crazy – made slightly more so by the lingering red wine-over from the night before. I spent my evening, first at a shopping event, then at the theatre, then drinking champagne at the Langham for a particularly fabulous press night party, dodging out of photos and tripping over minor celebrities.

Today, I went to work, had a meeting in the sunshine, survived an epic conference call, attended a PR launch of a new fancy luxury skincare brand, RAN to Soho Theatre in heels to watch ’7 Day Drunk’, which was a piece of performance art so very arty that I thought for a moment I’d stumbled into the ensemble of Rent. Then, not content to stagger home at 9.30pm, I instead tagged along to a post-theatre dinner in Balans with a couple of PR folks, where we drank champagne and talked about boys and shoes. Half way through dinner, I co-ordinated Shoreditch House Saturday plans and prayed for a sunny weekend.

Oh yes, London. You may not have given me a Prince Charming (yet), but damnit you don’t half treat me well.

RitziCx

Biting The Bullet

It’s been a few days – apologies for the radio silence. In short, I thought it best to wait for the odd bout of suicidal tendency to abate before I felt objective enough to regale this tale.

So, what happened with AF? Well, I’ll tell you. After days of intermittent, non-committal texts and agonising analysis of the meaning of facebook messages, I decided I needed to strap on a pair and say something. The eternal spiralling around each other was getting us nowhere, so in the end I sent an email. A truly epic email. On Thursday morning.

And so it began.

I shan’t provide you will a full transcript, as that would take days, but essentially the key points of my email were thus:

• I accepted that I had, myself, been a cause of much confusion over the course of our convoluted relationship
• I have reached a mindset where I’m done fucking around and want to get my teeth into something real
• I have a nice time with him, but I’m unsure where I stand, and whether he actually does like me, or if he’s just not that into me but hasn’t got the balls to say (I phrased this as ‘is just too nice to say’)

Lovelies, the response was equally epic, and not exactly filled with hugs and puppies.

The main points:

• He’s been confused by what I wanted in the past (sex) and gives kudos for me basically having more balls than him
• He’s not sure if we have that ‘spark’ that means we can be anything more
• He always has ‘an amazing time’ with me, wait for it… ‘sexually’
• He’s far too into self analysis and referencing previous failed relationships and emotional baggage.

He’s just not that into you Ritz. Suck it up and carry on.

But wait… here’s the kicker… (this came later)

‘I really didn’t want to bring age into the equation but I can’t help but feel I might be really into Ritzi in 5 years (by which time I’ll be 60*)’

This is when I went from cool, calm and collected, to seriously fucked off. I ranted, I raved, I fumed. I referenced my very successful friendships that include quite epic age gaps (Maxie, for example; 43, or The Diva; 52 – with whom the conversation never runs dry) and declared that frankly, I don’t know Ritzi in 5 years, I don’t know if she’ll be more or less grounded than Ritzi right now, but whoever she is, I reckon she’d still be pretty miffed at a dude who refused to accept her for who she was 5 years ago, choosing instead to let her deal with half a decade of shit alone before he showed up in time for the finished product.

He backtracked, he apologised, but it’s there in black and white;

AF is into me enough to sleep with me, quite a bit and in many different positions, but he doesn’t actually want to be with me because I dare to be under the age of 30, and frankly, because he just doesn’t like me enough.

What’s really fecking weird, is that after all this, he didn’t stop texting. In fact, he became more attentive than ever before. ‘How were your OU scores Ritzi?’, ‘What are you up to on the weekend Ritzi?’

On Thursday afternoon he told me to forget our serious conversation for a bit and celebrate my OU grades (which are awesome, by the way). I replied that I didn’t think there was anything more to discuss;

‘I’m awesome, just not awesome enough for you. I get it. Sucking it up and moving on.’

He objected to this. I told him whatever his meaning, it had the same outcome, and I’d rather not dwell on it. I thought that was it and then…

‘How are you Ritzi?’, ‘Are you seeing the girls tomorrow?’, ‘HOW did you end up at the King of Malaysia’s birthday party???’ (more on that later)

I tried to be cool, but it was so fucking confusing I breathed a sigh of relief when he sucked it up and said something.

‘I hope you don’t mind me messaging you. If you’d prefer I don’t, I understand. It just seemed weird when we’ve had so much contact recently.’

Not wanting to break up the honesty theme, I replied that actually, I wasn’t sure if I minded, and that I’d been feeling rather shit after being told I basically wasn’t good enough for him, but that I’d be fine because there is plenty of wine in the world.

Then comes back this ridiculous amount of psycho-analysis crap that you wouldn’t actually believe. He’s all confused, he doesn’t know why he always does this, he’s a failure with women and blah blah blah. Well, I’m sorry to clog up the page, but I will treat you with my final response:

‘That message is so wanky it’s just untrue. Now you’re getting so into your own self-psyche analysis you’re just going to make yourself miserable.

The reason we’re in this situation is both our faults. I got into it because I thought you felt the same way. I thought, here’s this guy who of course I fancy, who’s into me, and whose lifestyle slots into my idea of perfect (ie busy but not too busy, so as not to get pissed at how busy I am, and not to need to demand my attention every spare second I have, but good to be around when we are both actually free) and so I thought to myself, why am I actually NOT into this?

Then, obviously, lots of over thinking and typical womanly ‘building things up into other things they’re not’ later, we’re in this craphole.

You don’t get into this situation if you’re just honest with yourself from the start. If you don’t actually like someone, don’t send them random messages of paisley boots on christmas day. You do that with someone you like, because it’s cute and amusing. If you don’t like them, it’s just a cause for confusion. And I know that this whole set up came up because I’d set the precedent for it, because over the last few years I really haven’t wanted anything more from anyone, so it’s understandable that a guy isn’t going to know where he stands with me if he’s been on the receiving end of all that confusion for 5 odd years or however long it is we’ve actually known each other.

Now we’re on the same page, maybe its best to just go back to what we were before, which is just a person the other person texts when they’re drunk or lonely or been screwed over by someone they do actually like. We know its never going to go anywhere, but 5 years is a long time to just fall out of each other’s lives, even if we haven’t really actually known each other until this horrendous conversation.

Sorry if that’s harsh, but otherwise I just think this bullshit is going to drag on and I just want to stop thinking about it and go and buy some shoes with my paycheque from the Sultanah.’

To which I received the appropriate response at last:

‘I can’t exactly argue with that.
You’re quite smart sometimes’

Yes, I am smart AF. I’m too smart for you, and I’m glad this happened so I could realise it. As Blondie McFab quite rightly said over an epic Sunday roast yesterday (a roast which was altogether more fun and filled with free drinks from hot bartenders than the one I’d shared with AF last weekend) you don’t want to have bigger cojones than your man. That’s just weird.

And so, the epic saga comes to an end. Sorry this is the longest blog post in the known universe but it had to be said, and I feel a heck of a lot better now it’s out of me.

It’s worth noting that yesterday I shopped LOTS, so every cloud…

Thanks everyone for being so awesome and for putting up with me ranting on twitter, rants which may or may not have included me telling people to fuck off, and ignoring anyone who dared to try and lend some sympathy. It takes a brave soul to put their fingers through the wire of the cage when there’s a rabid Cortez going wild inside.

Onward and upward, March is almost done and the sun is shining. Let’s see what else 2012 has in store.

RitziCx

*Note – AF is not 55. I’m not that weird. He’s trying, and failing, to be funny.

When One Emotional Cripple Encounters Another…

So, I know you all want to hear about it. Alright, calm down, I’ll tell you.

Saturday was uneventful, I spent it in the gym, and in the hairdressers (Hair By Fairy, £13, thank ye very much) and catching up on a few weeks of open uni work (yes, I do that now) until 9.30 rolls round and Twinkle returns from work. We watched far too much Cougar Town and drank far too much wine, and then I got a text.

‘Hey you, here’s a maverick idea. I’m actually just round the corner playing this gig, how about I come straight to you when it’s done?’

Oh em fucking gee. Battle stations! As IF I’m ready for a boy to show up on a Saturday night when I wasn’t expecting to see him until Sunday afternoon.

‘Quick!’ Twinkle yelled, ‘you go tidy your room, I’ll do the washing up then I’ll grab my tweasers and we can de-hair you!’

-please note, when she said de-hair, she was referring to my werewolf eyebrows. Not my lady garden. Although that did need a bit of maintenance too… but not by Twink’s evil tweasers.

Three hours later, I’d basically redecorated the flat, washed my sheets and dried them to the best of my ability (with a hairdryer), removed all offensive traces of hair, removed and reapplied makeup, and passed out on the sofa. Dressed casually, of course. Oh this? I just threw this on – I wasn’t expecting you or anything…

AF showed up and it was… fine. A bit awkward at first – made swiftly less so by the introduction of French wine. I had previously alluded to the fact that his visit had not been timed at the ideal time of the month, so sex was not initially on the cards. When conversation dried up however, I had to keep my mouth occupied somehow. Sometimes, the only way to get rid of heaps of sexual tension is to get down on your knees and swallow it.

The next morning, after an annoyingly long lie in (I don’t do well with lie ins) I was thankfully certain that Flo had left the building. I’d been pretty sure the night before, but not that keen to risk it. I can’t imagine any boy would be that keen to come back for seconds if that happened half way through. So, I gave the all clear, and was spectacularly shagged into oblivion.

So – then followed a whole day. We strolled around my neighbourhood (yes, apparently I now live in America), hopped on a bus to Tooting Bec and popped into a pub for cider and a Sunday roast. We chatted and laughed, with only a few awkward silences. We flipped a coin for cinema or movie at home – and went to Brixton to see The Artist (which is over-rated) and then went home and ended up watching our original home move choice anyway (Megamind – which is under-rated)

We went to bed. Fumbled a bit. I applied my miracle hands to the fucked up muscles of his back – a favour which earned me much reciprocal favour – and went to sleep. I got up, got dressed, and went to work.

And not a single actual meaningful word was spoken.

I’m not after big romantic gestures or anything, but the problem is that we’re just not talking about it. There’s a fecking massive elephant in the room, and it’s not going away. In fact, it just started acting out scenes from The Jungle Book, and we’re just ignoring it.

We both sort of want to know if we can manage going from casual to not so casual, but the problem is – I’m an emotional cripple. I cannot start these conversations. I get uncomfortable when I’m expected to hug my own mother.

This wouldn’t be the end of the world, except… AF is also an emotional cripple. There’s no way he’s going to start that conversation. So we’re potentially just going to remain locked in this back and forth dance until one of us grows some balls.

Or someone else shows up who already possesses said balls, and steals one of us away.

Knowing the ratio of decent men to shit men, I don’t really fancy my chances. Do you?

We are both quite awesome people. There are moments when a tiny break appears in the thundering cloud of our own baggage, and it just works. But in order for it to actually be anything, the weather seriously needs to turn.

So that’s where we are. A permanent state of fucking limbo. Forever and ever. Amen.

RitziCx

Everybody Play The Game…

I bloody hate game playing.

Seriously; board games, sports games, computer games… so not Ritzi’s M O. But worse than all these games (yes, even worse than charades) is the Love Game. I fecking hate it.

And yet… I play.

Everybody does, and if you don’t join in, you surely don’t stand a chance. Got to be in it to win it, and whatnot, right?

You recall last weekend? After being blown off by AF (not that way) I faced a day of lonesomeness. Blondie’s off in a field somewhere, promoting something (she told me what it was and I immediately forgot), Irish is on tour, Bridget and Twinkle were both at work and it was Flora’s actual birthday so she was all family focussed. Ergo – Ritzi sat on her arse all day, watching Friends on Comedy Central. A fine way to spend what is considered a sacred day in Theatreland. It’s the one true day off.

Anyhoo, due to the ‘Love Game’, I couldn’t very well be seen to be doing sweet FA all day, so when AF called in sick I immediately announced that I’d go and join the gals in Clapham, where they were lunching at Babel.

Lies.

Then, after sending the goodnight text on Sunday evening and engaging in a depressing non-conversation on Facebook on Monday, followed a hideous 3 day silence. In this time, I happened to also get my period, hence the return of MENTAL RITZI.

‘Hold out!’ Everyone said. ‘Don’t text him first you crazy person!’

So I did. And I didn’t. And 3 days later I’d utterly and completely convinced myself that he had, in this time, entered into a serious relationship with a petite attractive blonde – probably one who could sing and play guitar at the same time – and never wanted to see me again. I ate chocolate. I drank copious amounts of wine. I was one step away from watching ‘The Holiday’.

Then, yesterday, a message pops up on Facebook.

‘Hey you’

Good bloody lord… did I just win this round?

Victory is mine, he wants to rearrange our Sunday date. Of course, while I am completely free (I really need to start doing things other than just drinking wine on Sundays), due to the fecking ‘Game’* I must act aloof.

‘I have this niggling feeling that I’ve said yes to something…’ I haven’t. ‘Let me check my diary and I’ll let you know tomorrow.’

Here’s the thing – last week it was sunny, I was bright and breezy, and probably still a bit drunk from a week in France. This week it’s going to rain, I’m still going to be on my period, and I’m down to my last bottle of French wine which probably won’t make it past tonight’s new episode of Cougar Town.

So what the heck are we going to do on Sunday???

I am sensing some deja vu…

RitziCx

*No, not that game. But if you do know about that game, and are therefore playing it… you just lost it.**

**If you don’t know what I’m on about, google it. And I’m sorry.

Trying To Stay Cool

So here’s the thing – AF called in sick to our Sunday date.

I do know for a fact that he was actually ill and not just blowing me off, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’d kept a Sunday free, sorted out my lady garden and changed my sheets.

This guy has been chasing after me for years, and I’ve always been hesitant, due to my own stupid niggling sense of doubt and the fact that I have such a shockingly bad track record with men that I figured it just wasn’t worth the hassle if I was just going to get shat on again. But this many years on… he’s still here. And all of a sudden, I realise this. And then I’m interested.

And now we’ve gone from teasing texts (always started by him) to insubstantial facebook conversations (yesterday started by me because I just could not take it any more).

He said he was bummed he couldn’t make it on Sunday. He puts two kisses on the end of his goodnight sign off message. He still drops in the odd innuendo.

So why can’t I shake the feeling now I’m actually paying attention, that I’ve lost his?

As always, fighting the temptation to catch a train to Brighton and shout ‘why won’t you love me???’ from a rooftop with a spangly megaphone. God this ‘staying cool’ shit is a mission.

RitziCx

Out Of The Woodwork…

As if by magic…

‘Hello. You, me. Coffee? Yes? Good. Great! When? Next week? After Tuesday? Perfect.’

And as an afterthought…

‘Also how are you?’

Yes, those are the messages I received on Thursday night (in France – that means it cost you money you git) from The Ex. The Ex whose name I burned on New Years along with all the rest of the crap I had hanging around from 2011, and promised Blondie and Irish I would stay away from.

You may recall, his last magnificent outing had him cancelling on me for dinner before Christmas. I retaliated, in a very fabulous way, by flirting with a hot Downton Abbey guy at his show’s Christmas Party.

Since then, nothing. Until Thursday.

Is that not the most arrogant text message ever composed? Or am I just pre-disposed to think so?

Flora (she of so many morals and unwavering metal knickers) declared I should not reply at all. I explained that I HAVE to say something, on account of the army of mutual friends between us and the fact that he is still a West End Leading Man and in my line of work we’re going to encounter each other. I cannot just ignore him and hope he will go away.

Blondie and Irish (I think – the memory of last night is a tad hazy what with the amount of red wine I smuggled back from France and whatnot) agree that I am allowed to text back, but it should be along the lines of, ‘yes I’m fine, sorry but I am busy for all eternity, will let you know when that’s done’.

I can see right through it, don’t fret. I know he’s just texting the first girl in his phonebook that he thinks will text back and massage his ego – and I would previously have been that girl. But no more!

I’m choosing to ignore the little thrill I still get 3 days later when I look at that message.

RitziCx

Now What???

So, AF surfaced again. He’s all jetlagged and adorable. He wants to see me on Sunday – actually, he wanted to see me before Sunday but I explained that Friday night is Cougar Town night avec the girls (and a fuckload of French wine) and Saturday night is Flora’s birthday. He was slightly put out. I find that annoyingly cute.

So now, he is coming to my house. On Sunday. And, because Mother Nature is a bitch, I may have gotten a period by then.

I have no idea how to entertain a boy for a whole day, let alone if I end up having to busk it without the old faithful fallback of ‘jump him and shag his brains out’.

I have not ‘dated’ someone I actually might like since I was a college kid. Back then, we shagged, and listened to heavy metal, shagged some more, and drank beer. It was not that difficult.

How exactly do real human beings handle this shit?!?

Yours fucking terrifiedly,

RitziCx

STEP AWAY FROM THE BLACKBERRY!

My god, this is KILLING me.

I know that all this texting etiquette is all in our heads (unless of course, you are this chick) and that guys really don’t put all that much thought into who texted last and how many kisses and all that shizzle, but seriously, you guys have no idea how much self control we women have to exercise in order to avoid being outed as complete and utter nutters.

I texted AF last. My text was witty and irreverent – he’d mentioned that he was desperate for a shower after a long haul flight, I suggested he’d better hurry up and get in said shower, as I could smell him from France. Before that, he’d texted asking when I was back in London. I told him.

24+ hours later, I have had sweet FA back.

Guys – if there are any of you out there – I’m sure you’re saying, ‘what’s the problem? You want to text him, just text him! He clearly wants to get down your pants again anyway so what’s the harm?’ Oh, oh, oh. There is MAJOR harm.

The sheer fact is, if you receive a seemingly blasé text from a woman, rest assured, it is not so. In actual fact, said woman has typed, and deleted, and retyped said text at least three times, in a vain attempt to find a witty come back that is in no way desperate, and she has spent at least ten minutes agonizing over just how many kisses you deserve (and more importantly, how many kisses she thinks she can risk without scaring you off).

I am GAGGING to text AF. It’s ridiculous. I don’t know where the fuck all this has come from but it’s like some little switch in my head has gone off, and I’m suddenly right there, in the mindset I really should have been in three years ago when he first asked me out.

The bugger of the thing is, I’m having a marvelous time in France, hangin’ with Baby G and getting annoyingly broody, all the while with very little contact with the outside world. I’m going to have to slap Flora when I get back to London, who keeps sending blanket texts in relation to her birthday this weekend. I really cannot cope with seeing a flashing envelope on my screen right now, unless it’s signalling contact from a hot guitarist.

Holding out… just…

RitziCx

Causing A Stir In The Limousin

Yes, yes, I’ve been here for five seconds and already I’ve caused a stir. Rural France doesn’t know what the heck to do with itself. Turns out it has a rather short term memory, for it was only 11 months ago that a non-preggers Maxie G was tottering about it fabulous red shoes and shagging hot single dutchmen.

The arrival:

I flew Ryanair. I’m not proud of it, but it seems that not many airlines fancy stopping off at Limoges, and it was affordable, so I did it. I did, however, book myself extra baggage, Priority Boarding (no queues), Priority Seating (leg room) and packed my own sleep mask. It was basically standard class Virgin by the time I was through with it.

I met Maxie off the plane, which appeared to land in an oversized farmyard… oh, wait, no – apparently that’s just Limoges Airport. She was fabulous in massive sunnies and golden hair… oh yeah, and with a baby strapped to her chest.

The baby:

Not that I have THAT much experience with babies, save for the Illegitimate Godson and he’s six, so I have managed to block the nappy memories out of my mind, but all that aside I think I can safely say that Baby G is the COOLEST child in the entire world. Not only did he show up super stylish, topped and toed with the finest Cath Kidson accessories courtesy of moi, thank you very much, but he also managed to cause a scandal while Maxie and I braved a French Car Dealership looking for parts for her Fab-mobile, by deciding he fancied a snack and therefore prompting Maxie G to whip out a nork, much to the surprise and poorly concealed delight of the local N-Dubz equivalent, who chose that moment to swagger through the door.

Since then, Baby G has decided Aunty Ritzi is his new favourite pillow, and has taken to passing out draped over my ample bosom for the afternoon. Every afternoon.

I can’t say I mind, it’s like an ovary explosion.

The life:

It’s definitely not small town life. This is most assuredly a rather small village. Once I’d gotten over the shakes that come when a Londoner realises there is not going to be a Starbucks on every corner, I then came to appreciate the fact that there is, however, a Boulangerie on every corner, a fridge FULL of cheese and a cellar FULL of wine.

On that first, vaguely sunny day, Maxie and I tottered down to the local pub. I was dressed very casually, in a floral jumpsuit, totes cas cardigan (from Dotty P’s abut ten years ago no less – you don’t get more dowdy than that), and my comfy wedges.

Apparently, it really HAS been 11 months since anyone wore heels in this village.

Had I a penchant for odd looking, (quite likely) toothless French yokels, I’d DEFINITELY have pulled.

Oh, and we found the Statue of Liberty, in a village called Chateau Neuf (not that one) at the end of an afternoon spent sipping Viennese coffee (nostalgia) and window shopping (there is one shop. It is the same place that sells the coffee).

It’s kind of smaller than the New York one, but much more manageable. And it doesn’t look like the torch is a Natural Disaster waiting to happen.

The wine:

I bought three bottles of very good wine for under a tenner. I am NEVER LEAVING.

RitziCx