“I’m not cracking up, I’m just getting older” – Noel Gallagher.
As we age, we form new opinions in life. Everything changes. We become more mature, more experienced, we get older. Suddenly childhood became teenage angst. Teenage angst met the real world when we got a job and started backpacking the world. Personally, I attempted to settle down, time and time again, but it didn’t work out, so I kept moving. Realistically I am still moving. I don’t live in my home country of Northern Ireland. I moved to Poland in 2016, by accident during depression at a time when I was cruelly victimised by liars. It was at that point in life, I started to think about dating again and whether being in my late 30s was now a burden or a bonus. Was it a benefit to be looking at older-dating.com believing all that life experience would guarantee real love?
Childhood and Teenage Crushes
Kylie Minogue, Nicole Eggert and Samantha Fox all graced my teenage folders as I fell in love with such females who looked good, were clever and oozed sex appeal. At the time, those girls were not much older than me, though realistically beyond reach for a 14 year old Northern Irish school boy. Teenage crushes were not kind to me. I didn’t have any. Apart from the wonderful Claire McKee (my perfect childhood sweetheart, whom I never dated), there were no girls I had my eye on until the age of 17.
Awards day at Kilmaine Primary School, proud and shy next to Claire McKee
East Belfast girl Vicky Everitt had my eyes rolling, but as I never asked her out, life strolled into my twenties and I picked up the pieces with a new life in England. I regretted things I didn’t do on that damp and lonely Thursday years ago…
Twenties Plenties
In my twenties I was dating girls much more regularly. It seemed easy at the time, not a challenge. Relationships came and went though – they never lasted. Lauren and Emma were fabulous English girls in my life. Sweet Gemma was just a friend but we had a close bond.
Gemma and I reunited in Bangor, Northern Ireland.
Then I met Hungarian. It seemed I was learning more about relationships as I got older. Noemi and I lasted a while before we split forever after touring Venice.
We fizzled out, and by the end of that decade, I was ready to move on again – this time Australia was calling and I did wonder if I could meet my match whilst plying my trade in the land down under. For almost two years I worked in Australia, mostly in PJ Gallagher’s Irish Pub in Parramatta. It was all a big dream. But apart from a few nights out and glory kisses, including on Christmas Eve 2009, I passed into my thirties with barely a genuine romance.
The Mind Gets Dirty As You Reach Thirty
A trip to the coldest continent of Antarctica in 2010 inspired my next love affair with a Hong Kong lady. It all started with dinner off the coast of Barrientos. We ended up travelling the world together, visiting 44 real countries across all 7 continents. I moved to Hong Kong, working in Delaney’s Irish Pub there, as well as for Internations and in about 10 schools as a Native English Teacher. Life was bliss and love had arrived. But yet again, things whittled away it was another failed romance on a growing list. I clearly hadn’t learnt anything yet.
I lived in Hong Kong and dated a local lady
Late Thirties With An Eye On The Future
Finally as I entered my lat thirties, I realised I wanted to settle down, but of course with a girl that also liked to travel in between times. It proved difficult to find. First there was the dishonest lady I met in Romania – Nina. Nina’s lies and deception eroded a friendship rather than any dating. Nina tried to force me to show her my willy her one night, wisely my heart had to play resistance and attempt to remove her childish acts. Then came Monika, a good girl overall but hyperactive and too much baggage for me to handle. After Monika and Ewelinka, I have been careful. I even tried Speed Dating, Dating Websites and Tinder. But they were all cow excrement. I had learnt not to trust girls any more and that most of what they said would be lies.
40s, 50s, 60s Dating…
So what is the future? I wish I had some inside knowledge into over 60 dating that could get me ready for the upcoming romantic challenges ahead. But as the days go by, I still encounter many new and exciting ladies. One day, one of them will match completely and we will be ready to be happy, healthy and enjoy the rest of our lives together. The dream remains the same, don’t stop living…