Date 8 – Eric

Welcome to date 8 of 26

Guy Profile
Name: Eric
Age: 34
Height: 6:00
Occupation: Accounts Administrator
Location of date: Wildwood, Canary Wharf, London

How I met Eric

I first met Eric as I was leaving the Christmas party that we had at work. To be honest when he called me I wanted to blank him and pretend that I didn’t hear him calling me.  I decided not to because I was very new in my role and I didn’t want to give people the wrong impression of myself before they got to know me. When I went over to speak to him he seemed a little tipsy. I told him my friend was waiting for me so I couldn’t chat for long. He said he’d look for me on our work intranet and I said ok. I knew he would have difficulty finding me as my name is quite unique and he didn’t write it down.

The following month whilst we were having an event in a part of the building that’s close to his office, he walked pass and saw me and came over to speak to me. I thought he looked quite different from what I had remembered but he looked ok. Whilst we were speaking I had to attend to a visitor so the conversation ended there and he left. Later in the day I saw him again but this time I noticed that he had quite a lot of grey hair. It’s was a bit off putting if I’m honest.

Later in the week my manager told me that I had a call from someone, who refused to leave their name and said they’ll call back. I asked my manager a few question like was it a guy to try and figure out if it was Eric because I had a feeling it was. She gave me the answers that I was expecting and even showed me a picture of who she thought it was and it was Eric in the picture.

Communication duration before talks of date

After the initial call that I missed, Eric sent me an email and I asked him if he would like to meet up for lunch. From the beginning of February until March we met up for lunch several times and we even made plans to go on a date but he cancelled on me because his daughter was ill. I also asked him if he would like to attend a jazz show with me and again he disappointed me and I went on my own. The show was very good by the way. I’m glad I went.

After the two let downs I had pretty much given up hope in  Eric, so I was quite surprised when he started showing an interest in me again towards the end of March. There was one particular day that he really wanted to see me but I told him I couldn’t leave work. As he finishes work half an hour before me I thought it was best for us to see each other the following day. The next day we met up for lunch. I tried to find out what he wanted to see me urgently about and to my disappointment it was for ‘nothing in particular, I just wanted to catch up with you’. When he said those words, I felt like saying is that it? As the Easter holiday was the following week, he wanted to know what I had planned and if I would have time for us to go on the date that we had previously planned, that he couldn’t make.  I told him that I didn’t have any concrete plans and he should let me know when he’d like to meet up a few days beforehand.

On the last day of the holiday, I saw a missed call from Eric and gave him a call back. He asked me if I was busy and if I would like to go on the date with him that very day. As my plans were flexible I said yes and we made the plans over several phone calls.

The Date

I arrived one minute early to the front of Canary Wharf station (our meeting point) and gave Eric a call. Like a true gentleman he was already there but not right in front of the station. I spotted him within a few seconds and we walked towards each other and hugged and went towards the direction of one of the shopping centres at Canary Wharf.

We had to walk around Canary Wharf several times to find a place that I wanted to eat at because he left me to decide where we should eat. I chose the only restaurant that didn’t have anyone else in it because I didn’t want to eat in a mainstream restaurant, even though the mainstream ones had customers in them therefore indicating that their food is most likely better than the one I picked. As it was just over an hour pass lunch time the emptiness of most of the restaurants was expected and Wildwood suffered the most simply because it isn’t as well known as the other competing restaurants.

The meal was good and Eric was good company too but because I had met up with him for lunch several times before, the date didn’t feel special. He asked if we could do something else another time. I said yes. We decided on rock climbing because we want to do something interesting. The date finished around 5pm because I wanted to see some friends who work in the area. Eric would have liked us to do something else after having lunch but as I didn’t think he would want to spend so much time with me I had planned to see my friends whilst in the area and kill two birds with one stone.

I’m writing this blog two days after the date and I can’t really remember what we spoke about. I just know that I don’t really have romantic feelings for Eric. Maybe the feelings could develop over time as he has some of the qualities that I look for in a guy: He is tall, within the age group that I prefer, ambitious, he has his own place and seems to be a nice person, who I can actually learn a lot from. Having said all that there is a big BUT, he has a little daughter between 3 and 5. I can’t remember her precise age and he broke up with the mum less than a year ago and the daughter lives with him. There is something about this equation that doesn’t add up to me and at the same time it’s not really an equation that I’m motivated to work out. My head says I should give him a chance but my heart doesn’t feel a thing for him.

I’m going to go on a second date with him because I promised but I don’t have any feelings for him (sigh).

That’s all for this week readers. Please leave your questions or comments below and I will respond as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading My dating year – Date 8!