Well, well, well...

Well, well, well...

It's been a while since I updated you on my romantic (or not so romantic) liaisons. Last summer, I met a guy who I thought could be The One. We got on so well, talking about everything! It was crazy.

Then, of course, he ended it saying he wasn't ready for a relationship. I blogged about it here.

This spurred me to do something rather unlikely. With a lot of badgering from my writery friends, I applied to First Dates. (As I no longer have an online dating profile anywhere! Yep, deleted them all.)

Then one month later he came back into my life.

Let's call him #MrWells.

Now, this happened all before Christmas... (And I wrote this post before Christmas but decided it wasn't the right time of year to start ranting about idiotic men ann didn't want to taint the Christmas spirit!)

I'm not sure I want to get into the long and the short of it, only that yet again, he was a man with issues.  (Why do I always find the men with issues?) And with my past experience in counselling, the counsellor in my head now tells me I did nothing wrong. Because I did nothing wrong. (Wait till you hear it).

All I will say is, ladies, avoid men with issues. Do not empathise, sympathise, even dream of loving them, do not fear that they will be lonely. In fact, let them be exactly that. Lonely. They do not deserve you because if they do not love themselves then they will not love or respect you. And to be honest, I think they love themselves a little too much in some twisted way, and will not give two shits about you.

After two weeks of no communication from #MrWells, which I was to assume our relationship had expired, he messaged me via email. Am I to presume he deleted my number out of his phone (as I have done with his if truth be told). An email?!

And all it reads is along the lines of sorry it didn't work out between us. Still no explanation. No thank you for returning his watch. (I'll get to that).

I deleted the email without responding. I felt that as I had nothing nice to say it was best to say nothing at all.

However, you know me, I do like to have my say... so I thought I'd blog about it instead.

Dear reader, do you want to know what he did?

We've had a lovely evening, everything appeared great between us (so I thought). We'd only been seeing each other a couple of months - well it's about 4 months from 1st date, but we had a wobble which really should have told me then to walk away. (See link above.)

We watched some TV (like normal couples do) and went to bed, made love....

Now we aren't familiar yet with sleeping together regularly, so at 2am (ish) it wasn't surprising for him to say he couldn't sleep. However, he insisted he would go into one of the boys' rooms. Now being a lot bigger than me, and my boys both have cabin beds, I suggested I go and he stay in my bed.

But he insisted I stay in my own bed. So I made up the sofa bed in my son's room and left him to it. At around 2.40am #MrWells is entering my bedroom, using his phone as a torch, rummaging around in the ensuite. (Honestly it was like a burglar!) When I ask him what he's doing, he says he's gathering his belongings, he can't sleep, he's going home.

Now we'd made plans to do something together Sunday. In this growing relationship, I'd hoped we would get to spend the day together. So, in my confused and very tired state, I'm asking if he's coming back. I help him find other items that he would clearly have behind otherwise - he's a bloke after all - and see him on his way.

I can't sleep straight away, so I put all the sofa bed back etc. In the morning, I've received a message which says he's "home" at 3.43am. I reply, "Hey best text me once you're up."

NEVER GOT A REPLY UNTIL THAT EMAIL OVER 2 WEEKS LATER!

I sent his watch back to him via special delivery when my friends said I should just smash it, or just not bother sending it back until he contacted me. He didn't even thank me!

After knowing how #HeWhoShallNotBeNamed had treated me, confiding in him about the counselling, this is how I am treated! I am soooooo sick of it.

Why me? Why do these fucking arseholes come near me?

I wouldn't mind if they were drop dead gorgeous and fit as fuck, but no, they're average arseholes. And I'm so soft I let them in.

I'm really sorry to say this but the next guy really does have his work cut out to convince me he is worth his salt. Because I am DONE!

I am very happily single.

Two Years Officially Single

Two years ago today, I was put back on the shelf.

I know it's not a bad thing, although at the time it broke my heart, so much so, I had to take myself off to counselling. I couldn't understand why a perfectly good relationship could end so suddenly, and wondered what I had done wrong.

Counselling helped me to discover that the relationship wasn't healthy, because everything had been on his terms. And as soon as I'd gained confidence in the relationship, to start speaking up when I wasn't happy, he'd ended it.

Yes, I am sad. Yes, I do want to be in a relationship. I do miss sharing my free time with someone, to go on mini-adventures with them! But I do not want to be in this kind of relationship. I suppose, in the last seven years of being on and off single, I've learnt I will not settle for anything less than I deserve.

If that means being single for the rest of my life, then that is something I am now prepared to face.

Relationships are hard work, you do need to both work at it. There will be tough times. But predominantly if you love someone, it will work out. There needs to be much more laughter than tears... unless they are happy tears!

If I've learnt anything from my failed marriage, it is exactly that. It does take the two of us to make the relationship work. I am just as guilty at the failure of my marriage. I let it go past the point of  not wanting to go back.

Anyway, today I may feel a little sombre. I do find it hard to believe he did the right thing. (But then that could be my mind having been conned). I will believe it when the right person comes along and I realise that what I had with He Who Shall Not Be Named was nothing in comparison.

I have to believe there is someone out there for me.

If there isn't... I'll just get more budgies...

Why I Don't Have Time To Date

I've been meaning to blog again the past few weeks. In August, I will have been single two years. I have dated - or tried to - but nothing has stuck. (I really did want one guy to stick, but we just didn't quite have the right chemistry for me).

In these two years I've attended counselling, I've self counselled, and I have got on with my life and made time for my good friends. I've had some lovely mini-adventures, too!

I'm now in such a routine with keeping in contact with these wonderful people, I rarely have a spare weekend to myself. I've a great social life - it would be even better if money allowed!

I've taken the advice of Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway, and made sure all parts of my life are full and important. I'm not going to make one person my whole world. From family, to friends and career, I've tried to concentrate on it all that makes me happy.

I don't have a huge quantity of friends, I have a few that make time for me, so I make time for them. And I love them all. These are the friends that have helped me through my lows, and rejoiced and celebrated my highs. These people are important to me and my sanity!

So I'm not going to give that up, right?

A gentle reminder to myself... 

The thing is, I do really want to find that one person to share everything with. There's a part of me who needs to, if only to confirm to me that when He Who Shall Not Be Named ended our relationship, it was the best thing he could have done for me. He set me free!

I know it is the best thing he could have done for me. I mean, who wants to remain in an unhealthy and unfair relationship? However, the way he did treat me, when I thought he was being sincere, is all I ever wanted. I just want to be loved.

And if I don't find that again? What happens? He's the last man I loved? He's the last man who 'loved' me?

It's as if I need to meet someone to make sense of my past.

I hope this is true!

So, I have to believe there is someone out there who will love me so much more than He Who Shall Not Be Named. And imagine how that's going to feel?

I shouldn't let this man have a hold of me, but he does. I want proof there is better out there, and I deserve it. Otherwise it all feels like a fraud... for someone who writes romance, I can get cynical. And I don't want to be cynical. I want to believe there is someone out there for everyone.

A few weeks ago, I opened myself back up to online-dating, only a day or two later to hide my profile. I realised I was just too busy to make a date with these guys - the few decent ones amongst the baggage-ridden dross.

This is great in someways, right? I'm too busy to date. The right guy's really going to need to stick out, yes?

Therefore, do I leave it to fate? Will the right guy come along in his own good time? However, I've actually been single on and off now for nearly seven years.... I'm not sure I'm patient enough for fate!

The way of the world these days, online dating seems the only way to meet new guys. But why does it have to be so time consuming, and sometimes, even feel demoralising?

Three Years Today...

I know this is Casanova and not The Doctor... 

I'm still waiting for a damn time machine to be invented, or Dr Who is real (in David Tennant form please) or maybe I should get a hot tub (and it turns out to be a time machine...) so that I can be taken back in time to today, three years ago.

I don't think I'd be able to get around all the 52% of the country who voted us to leave the EU, but I could go back to me on my first date with He Who Shall Not Be Named.



There are two scenarios I play out, but I can't decide which would be best.

I could return and tell myself to bleed him dry.

I mean, I accepted the gifts because I believed he loved and cared about me. I never asked for these extravagances, or expected him to spend what he did on me. But I could have asked for so much more, and he probably would have provided it. However, I am not that person. I used to go mad at him when he bought me something expensive.

So really, the only other option, which would save myself the heartache and the counselling afterwards, would be to go back and tell him where to stick his dick pics.

In fact, let me stick them there for you!

What people will never get, never understand is it was you who convince me that we were meant to be. Even now, I still can't believe I'm not with you. (Though I am glad I am not!)

I am strong, I am happy, but I am not the same person I once was before meeting you. But I'm getting there.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriends, Huh?

I want to share this interesting article about how the trope of the 'crazy ex-girlfriend' protects abusive men. (See the link below for article).

And now, 18 months on, and in a stronger frame of mind (thanks to the help of the counselling a year ago), I remember once when He Who Shall Not Be Named did exactly this to me.

I can't really remember the whole story, because at the time, so loved up and not the jealous type, I never took too much notice of it. I never saw the significance until lately, and from the rumours I hear of his current behaviour.

But he did just this! He implied he had a woman who was some sort of crazy ex!

We were walking along the high street (more than likely playing sodding Pokemon Go), when he told me about a woman who he said he was friends with (or something along those lines), but she'd misread the signs, 'fancying' him, and wanted more from him. And having turned her down, she'd then turned a bit 'crazy' on him.

And in his nice-natured, convincing tone, I believed him! Why wouldn't I? He seemed such a nice guy - back then! The man who spoilt me, and loved me... as long as it was on HIS terms...

I realise now he was protecting himself in case this woman did see us together and tried to warn me about his narcissistic, selfish tendencies, and his lies. He could quite possibly cheated on me. I will never know. But he was grooming me to believe him, and not her, should she appear.

Because she was the crazy ex!

Ladies, I urge you to read this article. I don't know how else to protect you. If I knew the women He Who Shall Not Be Named was dating, I'd be messaging every single one of them!

(The irony is they do end up messaging me, and I'm happy to hear from them, and put their minds at rest).

If you EVER meet a man who claims to have a "crazy ex-girlfriend" or two, delve a little deeper - and remember there are two sides to every story! Maybe she's not that crazy, after all...

How the trope of the 'crazy ex-girlfriend' protects abusive men. 

Do Soulmates Exist?

Do you believe in soulmates?

As a romantic novelist I do... I'm writing about them, aren't I? But in reality, do they really exist?

This month marks that I have been separated/divorced from my ex-husband seven years. In this time, through online dating, I have met quite a few a couple of guys, and one in particular really did make me think I'd found my soulmate. But it wasn't to be. He Who Shall Not Be Named conned me out of my heart basically. I won't go into too much detail in this blog post. Let's just say I've written enough discussing it in the past. You can start here if you like. But I did waste 14 months of my life on the wrong man who made me believe he was my Mr Right.

Anyway, seven years single... on and off... and I'm still wondering will I find my Mr Right? Will I find someone who ticks most of the boxes. Maybe 'ticking boxes' is a crude term, but we all have things we look for in a partner, don't we? (Or is it just as we get older?)

And I'm not talking about materialistic boxes, I'm talking about their personality, their attitudes and beliefs in life. (Some of the materialistic ones are important too - you're a liar if you say they are not). These boxes are what help us click.

The longer I live a single life, the more I'm getting to enjoy it, and I'm not even sure I want to make time for someone else. But then occasionally I miss the kisses, the cuddles, the intimacy, someone to share everything with.

I did meet a guy last year. He really was one of the good guys. I know he was. My womanly-sixth-spidery-sense told me. He ticked every box going and some! However, there wasn't that 'spark' - not for me anyway. I am still kicking myself. I really really wanted there to be a spark!

But it's something you just can't force. Mother Nature won't let you.

Why does life send me arseholes to fall in love with, and when a good guy comes along I don't fancy them? (And it's nothing to do with falling for bad boys - if you ever saw He Who Shall Not Be Named there was definitely nothing bad-boy about him!) It makes me think I'm best not looking for love.

If you truly believe you've found your soul mate, then hang on to them, work at it when times get tough, and treasure every moment with this person, because I believe finding a soulmate is very few and far between. Not everyone gets to meet theirs. You are truly lucky.

So as I enter 2019, like I did 2018, single, I will see where it leads... Back in 2013 I was afraid of being on my own. For 2019, I can say confidently, I am not afraid anymore.

If only Tom Hardy would have me as a friend with benefits...

Be Ashamed. Very Ashamed.

Isn't it funny how the guilty play the victim?

I feel I need to tell my side of the story. To prove who really is the victim...

I met He Who Shall Not Be Named on an online dating site. We chatted there a bit, then moved it to text messages - as you do.

During these early messages, He Who Shall Not Be Named at first sent me a couple of pictures with his boxers on, but clearly suggestive that he was aroused. I rolled my eyes (not that he could see that) - I was in the playground collecting my kids from school - and we had a giggle about it over texts.

I will state we hadn't met yet. 

Then, I'd come back from the pub with a friend one Friday night. I was in a fantastic mood - because my mate always makes me feel good and we'd had two bottles of Prosecco between us - and He Who Shall Not Be Named asked if he could send me some more pictures.

I replied drunkenly, "Yes, as long as they're not indecent."

I have no need for dick pics - certainly when I haven't even met the man.

Yes, well guess what, dear Reader, guess what he sent...

Not one, or two, or three, BUT FOUR pictures of his erect penis over WhatsApp. A couple in the shower, and couple in bed.

I went absolutely ballistic. I mean BAT SHIT CRAZY! I was fuming! (Anyone seen me when I'm angry, I give the Hulk a run for his money).

I think I replied something along the lines in between my Hulkish rant, "Are you even going to bother asking me out on a date or are you wasting my effing* time?"

*much harsher word used, beginning with F - trust me. Effing Fuming I was. Effing Fuming.

To this day, I wish I'd never met him. I should have seen the warning signs then and there, but we did meet, he was apologetic, and from then on, in the fourteen months we were together he showed remorse and appeared ashamed of his behaviour. I thought the man I'd fallen in love with could not have been the same guy who'd sent me these obscene photos... He was too nice. Too decent. I'd even discussed with him why he'd done it, and he'd replied he'd been advised it was the thing to do. I advised him then it was NOT the thing to do.

He came across inexperienced in the dating game. And so, embarrassed for him, I never shared with my friends his initial behaviour. (A couple of friends knew because at the time the Hulk wasn't rational and I needed to be calmed back to my Bruce Banner state).

I wish I had share this information with more friends!

So, what do I find out now? He's still doing it. He is still sending women, whether they want them or not, indecent pictures of his dick as his chat up line.

So he never was truly remorseful. He hasn't learnt by what I said. He even now switches it around, the women are the liars, the woman asked for these images...

I mean, I imagine, if you're sending something obscene unsolicited, someone isn't going to like it and will complain. Don't make out you've done nothing wrong!

Well, I hope the next woman you send your dick too, she plasters it all over the internet with your name attached to it. (Best way to do this would be screenshot it - he can't deny it's not his then!)

So in my Samantha-then-Janus, Game On voice, I say:

Be ashamed. Be. Very. Ashamed.

Fame or Karma?

I've been informed by a reliable source that my blog is becoming rather popular in a certain town near Bristol. Fame at last! Or maybe, finally, it's Karma?

So this one is for all of you!

And anyone grieving the loss of a relationship. Obviously.

When I first started writing about my heartache, it was the hope, as a writer, to get it off my chest, to ease some of the pain I was feeling. Now, my hope is that maybe women (and men) can read my story, see how poorly I was treated by He Who Shall Not Be Named, and having encountered the same sort of situation, can gather strength from what I've written. To know that they are not at fault, with their self-esteemed shattered, and that there will be light at the end of the tunnel. To know they are not alone.

He Who Shall Not Be Named should come with a health warning. (I quote a friend here actually!)

A man who sees himself as selfless can actually be deceivingly selfish. Everything has to be on his terms, and he'll be very good at manipulating you into his terms. As soon as you question those, as soon as you start to ask for something more, something that a real loving relationship deserves, he'll dump you, and move on (to his next victim) very quickly.

And you're quite within your rights to want more from a relationship, be it commitment, time, intimacy. You're not a doormat. You're not prepared to be used.

Another ex-girlfriend of my Ex (yes he's racked them up since me) has been in touch, to praise this blog. (Thank you, by the way). If you haven't read it, and as this year comes to a close, I want to show you how far I've come. And for those maybe feeling hurt and angry by the loss of a relationship, I am proof that your grief will ease.

My story starts here with When Will It Go Right?  I thought, with He Who Shall Not Be Named, I'd finally found the right one. I have been divorced nearly seven years now, and I am still single (and wonder what the fuck I am doing wrong - or why I seem to fall for the arseholes - where as I have  friends in similar positions who have found great guys, even married them). I feel I wasted 14 months of my life on him... when I could have been working towards a relationship with another guy... another guy I've potentially missed, because I was too loved up with HIM.

And as you read through the blog, I hope you see how much stronger I have become, although it does take time. How counselling helped, too.

I still feel today I was conned out of my heart. I am grateful I wasn't conned out of money, or worse, something could have happened to my kids. (I feel lucky in that respect.) I was just used really, for sex and for the feeling of being in a relationship when it suited him.

What has come to light from these two women now that have messaged me; he has had a girlfriend for two years... Yes, I'm doing the maths! He ended our relationship in August 2017... that's less than two years ago... So, He Who Shall Not Be Named, were you cheating on me, too?

If so, WHEN did you find the time?

Were the extravagant gifts a way to hide your guilt?

Are you introducing all these women to your kids?

And take a good hard look at yourself! For someone who prides himself as being a good guy, you are not!

Are you the kind of man you would want your daughter to date? Do you want her to be treated how you treat your girlfriends and lovers? Is this how you wish your son to grow up to be?

Please! Take responsibility as a role model to your children if nothing else!

Although, sadly, at 50, it is unlikely you will change your ways.

I am sickened. I did not know you. And it sickens me further that you continue to use women - and thought very little of our relationship if you can move on so swiftly. But you're doing it to women who are looking for a relationship, not a hook up... You're duping them. It's wrong.

If you're just wanting sex, at least be honest about it.

Give them the choice as to whether they want to be partial to this behaviour, these terms.

I don't want to give you the satisfaction by saying you've ruined me. But I am not the same person that you met in June 2016 (where I was in a good place), or the woman you destroyed in August 2017.

As a romance writer, I have always believed in romance... (hence you deceived me as I saw your gestures as romantic and not manipulation) but now I'm feeling more cynical about it. Is there such a thing as 'the one' or a 'soul mate'?

I'll continue to write it... give women that escapism they need, but whether I believe in it, is another thing...

You have toughened me up. I have made my peace. I will go through life not relying on a man (well maybe one; my Dad). Where I get to be, the successes (and maybe the failures) will be down to me. And me alone.

I will be financially and emotionally independent. I will be responsible for my happiness.

For this knowledge I no longer need a man. I would like one, but to be honest, I can't be doing with the drama, I have too many good friends to keep in touch with, I'm not even sure I have the time to date.

And do I really want the heartache again?

Can I trust the next man, when you - a man you said I could trust - deceived me into loving you?


Note to those who may wish to share their grievances, if you would like to message me privately, please feel free to do so via my Facebook page. 

A Letter To My Ex

Dear Ex,

If you're going to private message me via my Facebook Page, you might want to unblock me to maybe allow me to reply.

I won't. (But even if I wanted to, I actually can't.)

Neither will I take down the post.

(Dear readers, apparently he doesn't like this post, He prided himself on being such a good man see, but 4 months in counselling told me a very different story. There's an article too about men sending inappropriate pictures that I posted, maybe he's not liking this either). 

I will not do either of these things (reply or remove post) because 1) I am blocked, and I've never done anything wrong, 2) I owe you nothing, yet you owe me 14 months of my life back, and 3) it's the truth, and it's my blog, so bite me.

I could list more, but these are good enough reasons.

Oh, maybe, I've never had an apology, or an explanation why you're such an F@ckwit.

However, with reference to the last part of your message, and you stating that you 'massively misread the situation at the start of our relationship', I would like to point out that you completely and utterly misread the whole of our relationship. I was working towards a future together. You however, was always going to bolt as soon as your terms got questioned.

So, on that note, hope life's treating you well shit.

Your Ex.

I Think I've Found Closure

So, last week something rather random happened. I was contacted via Facebook by an ex of my Ex (I now like to call him He Who Should Not Be Named or the other begins with a C and is rather rude for this blog). She is the one (of many by the sounds of things) after me.

Through messaging, I have discovered that he has made her feel like they were soulmates, deeply in love, and then, without warning, suddenly ending their relationship. Sound familiar?

She was so apologetic for getting in touch, but felt she needed to. I told her I didn't mind at all. This time last year I had wanted to do the same, to gather some understanding to what the hell had happened to a perfectly good relationship (or so I thought it was).

Now, I never in a million years thought I could empathise like this, and feel so much for her well-being. I mean she's an ex of an ex, right? I thought I would feel a jealousy, or something not anywhere near what I do feel for her.

He has hurt her too, breaking her heart. She is me, a year ago.

This has highlighted to me that I did not know the man I was dating. I don't recognise the man she tells me about, what he's doing, what he's done to her, what he's doing to other women. He's a liar and a cheat. A manipulative bastard.

He still sends dick pics - even when I stressed very strongly women do not need to see these sort of pictures, especially before actually dating, or having sex!

Friends said to me earlier in the year, that one day I would look back on the 14 months we shared together and I will have fond memories of them.

At the moment I can't see it. I look back and think of it all as lies and deceit. I don't know that man! The way it ended has also soiled those memories for me, too. And I'm not sure I want to look back on them fondly, because I couldn't understand what went wrong.

All I feel is that I wasted 14 months of my life working on a relationship he was never actually interested in.

She said to me that she felt so stupid and naive. SO DID I!

All I do know is I'm in such a good place right now, and learning these things about him has helped me get closure. And I hope, I'm helping this other woman, too, with the counselling I gained. And from the fact that he's done it again, reassures us and shows that there is nothing wrong with us, and it is all on him.

So now there are two of us praying he meets a psycho-bitch from hell who will make his life a living nightmare! Maybe we should start a Facebook group - He Who Shall Not Be Named Ex's. 😹