Lunch with V

V was in London for two days and had asked if we could meet for an evening.

The timing wasn’t right for me . . . but he asked if we could at least meet for lunch on Thursday.

After such a difficult and stressful three weeks of demanding clients and unrealistic schedules and budgets it was lovely just to get out of the office for an hour. Just walking the few streets to the cafe, I realised I hadn’t actually taken a proper lunch break away from my desk for two weeks.

V was charming and just so lovely to talk to. We chatted about all the financial stresses that the last few months had brought on all businesses, but particularly on our own. He’d had to make this hurried visit at such short notice just because of those pressures and talked of more difficult times to come.

Just to talk to someone new, away from the office environment, was refreshing and calming. I told V that J does his best to listen to my rants and moans each evening when I get home from the office (though I wish he’d help more with meals and the children’s homework!!!), but I don’t think anyone can really understand the pressures unless you know the situations.

V did actually talk a little more about his own family and home life. I’d never liked to ask too much before . . . so it was nice that he was just opening-up and volunteering the information. I was telling him how it must be nice to be able to get away and visit different countries and different cities so regularly . . . he was telling me how nice it must be to have a stable and regular home life. So just talking about how we each have things that we take for granted, put our envy of the others lifestyle in perspective. Isn’t it so true that the “grass always looks greener on the other side” yet often the reality is that we should be more thankful for the things we have got . . . and possibly worked so hard on to achieve.

I really enjoyed our lunch. I felt much more at ease with him than I had on our previous meetings where, despite what had happened on those occasions, I’d always left feeling still slightly nervous or unsure of myself, as though I was somehow inferior, or perhaps even being used, because of who I worked for, rather than just being liked for who I am.

In our business meetings, and even in our “personal” meetings, I’d always felt slightly over-awed by his presence and, I suppose, suspicious of his motives. Now, as we kissed and said our goodbyes, I felt much more his equal, and much more that perhaps he actually wanted to see me as a person, rather than just as client/customer. I realise this sounds silly, given what had happened between us before (particularly on our last meeting during Wimbledon), but although I can’t properly explain it in words, I KNOW what I mean . . .

. . . and he does really seem a nice, and caring man. He is back in London at the end of October and I have promised to meet him again then.