Not My Usual Sunday

Things started out fairly normal today with breakfast at the Greek Souvlaki House, where I happened to meet up with KEWarken and wife. A lovely breakfast was had and we talked about things in the neighbourhood, and were to get a decent pizza. Oh, and something about me having a date today came up. Internet dating seems to be the trend, as they met on Lavalife and their circle of friends seems to be doing the same. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself.

Off home I went to clean up and get ready as 2PM was the hour of the appointed meeting. While I can't profess the level of knowledge about skincare that RJA can, I will admit that Axe Phoenix bodywash and deodorant are not unpleasant. Shaved, showered and spotless, I set out for a first meeting with an umbrella in one hand and a container of lemon squares in the other.

I was able to secure parking and arrive at the Beavertails stand about 3 minutes prior to the meeting. Needless to say, I had no need to rush as she was about 15 minutes late. No worries though. After initial greetings we decided to wander in the general vicinity of a coffee shop, and finally decided on Timothy's where we both had the Roasted Coconut coffee, and she sampled the lemon squares. We chatted for an hour, and I think both of us were nervous. The last time I had a date, I'd had almost 5 days to psyche myself up. Mental preparation being key. Still, there were no really awkward silences. Each of us was able to keep the conversation going or start a new one.

After coffee, she suggested a visit to the National Art Gallery and having never been there, I agreed. I'm glad I did, despite the giant hideously overpriced spider which stands guard over the entrance. Anyways, we wandered hither and yon through the Art Galleries Canadian Collection for a couple of hours. I'm not generally an artsy type; my appreciation is generally limited to oooh, flower pretty. But, I saw a number of pieces that totally knocked my socks off, and even some that left me scratching my head. She's a very artistic lady; she paints, sings, plays piano, does bead work and is a photographer. Oh, and she cooks too. She was a wonderful tour guide, and was able to explain exactly how much work would go into the Aboriginal clothing.

From there, we wandered down to Chez Lucien for dinner where I had Fettucine Alpesto with Chicken and she had the Lucien burger, which looked great. But since I had to go to the Works for dinner last night, I opted to not eat another burger. We had sat downstairs, right next to the kitchen. It was just a nice place to sit.

After dinner, we headed over to the Honest Lawyer for a couple games of pool and a drink or two. On the way, I mentioned that I was having a good time, and that I'd like to do it again sometime. She said she felt the same. The Honest Lawyer was fairly empty so we had our choice of tables. Of course we chose the silly table. The table gave us some initial trouble as it didn't want to give up two balls, however the server showed us how to correct the situation. That being a good hard shove with the bottom of the pool cue on the coin slot. Also, the table was missing the 7 and 15 balls, having double 5 and double 10s in their place.

She lost the first game (ed. I didn't win) as she sunk the 8 ball out of turn. The second game she cleaned my clock as I'd gotten down to two balls, when she ran the rest of the table sinking 5 in a row. The rubber match was a see saw battle between us, till I finally sank the 8 on a short shot into the side pocket. Ahh, my fragile male ego was left intact.

All said and done, it was a wonderful afternoon and evening at least to my mind.