L'Amoureuse back in full speed

After my date on Saturday I have managed to secure two more dates for the next two weeks.
Next date, tomorrow night with Mr TV. Despite quite a few message, no phone number requested, and therefore, as a good Rules Girl (and yes, I know this has become a rarity) I have not provided it. We have agreed where to meet and what time, I just have to hope I/he makes it in time. Back to old fashion style.
My next date is with Mr Snag. We had a one on one meeting, professional one, and as he had not yet asked when we should meet up, despite his brave text attempts, at the end of it I simply asked : "So, when did you want to catch up otherwise? I am busy Tuesday and Wednesday"
A smile immediately appeared on his face. "Er... How about next Wednesday?... Wait, let me just double check, I am notorious for double booking myself. Yes, next Wednesday."
"Ok, then"
"What time will you finish work?"
"6ish?" And that's how you confirm a date. Ok, may be not very Rules Girl or is it? I know from what I have been told that he has had a crush on me for months. Every time the poor man tried to talked to me in our kitchenette area at work I would make an escape to avoid the "date" subject, mainly because of the Gossip Queens (all of which are male by the way). I felt that, as he had asked me out, it was only fair for me to let him know when I was busy. Right?
And, because men are like buses, you wait for one for ages and then 3 arrive at once, I today received this text from one of my contractors:
"Hi LAmoureuse, you still need to let me know which bottle of Champagne I owe you. Mr Contractor x"
Now, I don't know about you, but when I send a text to one of my professional contact I don't usually finish it with "x"... The reason for the "Champagne I owe you" is that I did him and his client a big favour a couple of months back and as a joke pointed out that they owed me big time and that chocolate just wouldn't cut it, that my French origins were screaming for Champagne. Truth is, I make that same joke most days and I am lucky to even get a Christmas card from any of those guys. So this came as a bit of a... surprise? shock?
I have been thinking of an appropriate answer and googling it I found the following which might either confirm that it was a joke, or send me in front of a judge for corruption charges:
Dom Perignon Rose 1996 300cl, at a very cool £3,999 (just in case you don't believe me http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-12334.aspx )
And if any of you feel generous, leave me a message and I will let you know where to send it to.

Pimped out!

What a week!
It started poorly, waking up Monday morning, grumpy, late for work, feeling miserable. The weather seemed to match my mood, low grey clouds following me around with one of those silly rains that just wasn't hard enough to justify the use of an umbrella, yet thin enough to go straight through my coat.
I stepped into the office only to realised that the night fairy must have been dealing some pretty bad stuff the previous night for the whole office felt like Grumpy's family had come together for a miserable wedding.
By Wednesday I had managed to cheer up just enough that I could manage smiling on an on-off basis. It was time to go back on the dating website. After all I had lost two suitors and needed to get my potentials back to a more sustainable level.
I first e-mailed Mr Sparky. He had gone as far as sending me his mobile number and asking me out... a month ago. My e-mail was short and to the point: "Sorry I haven't been in touch for a while. Work has been crazy and I could not face my laptop by the time I got home. If you're still up for it I wouldn't mind catching up."
Then I e-mail Mr TV, he too had asked me out but had not yet asked for my number. The message was along the same line as Mr Sparky's.
Truthfully, I wasn't expecting much. After all, a month had gone by and they could have easily met someone or given up on the whole on-line dating thing. But as my mum would say: "Qui ne tente rien n'a rien" (If you don't try, you don't get).
To my surprise they both answered within 24 hours, they obviously haven't read the Rules! As a result I have one date tomorrow night with Mr Sparky. Mr TV needs to get his latest work schedule but it sounds like it might be another date for next week. But at this stage only a TBC.
The cherry on the cake came in the form on an unexpected text last night. "Heyyy... Do you have any plans for tonight?" I had to check the name twice. Mr Snag. My youngest suitor as yet, only 9 years younger than me. What is 9 years when you are 109? A drop in the ocean. Right now, it's almost a 1/3 of my age.
Luckily, 2 hours before I had made plan to meet up with a friend, not sure I would have been such a good Rules Girl otherwise. "Sorry, out with friends"
"Ok, no probs- was wondering if you wanted to come out for drinks tonight down the road... You know, I found out today that I will be leaving the project in 2 weeks :-(... Would be nice if you could spare some time for me next for some dinner/drinks...??? :-)" Eurr... Did he mean next... week? or next, as in "you have spared some time for Mr Smile in the office, now that he has runaway to another country I am next on the list"???
I assumed it was the first option: "I am sure we can sort something out"
I then did the mistake to share this bit of information with the girls at work. They have been following most of it in the past without a problem, but as we are nearing the end of our project and we need to get the works done by any means, my Aussie friend decided to pimp me out to Mr Snag!
Whilst I was out at a meeting he came to our office to talk to Miss Aussie who needed some work to be completed on one of her jobs. They started talking about the expected end of project party and he offered "you could be my plus one", she laughed, "I think someone might be jealous". Him, "Maybe you could put in a good word for me?" "Well, you sort out my glass and I see what I can do".
Is that really what I am worth? One outstanding piece of glass on a job? Really? I feel cheap. Very cheap.
Next time, if you are going to pimp me out, make sure you get all 257 outstanding items completed!

Recruiting: competent gardener, reliable butler

This month, after finally managing to put my house in order, I saw my gardener and my butler resign.

My gardener left for Kenya, and, as it turned out, my butler was already working for another home. I am now left with a very sweet pool boy who's visits are irregular and often superficial.

One of my friends has worked out that in love we should all have three helpers to look after our home. After all, home is where your heart is.
Although the three roles are quite different, they each convey a function in keeping you sane and entertain throughout your search for Mr Right:

• The Pool boy: 

Young, attractive and fit, he is quite lay back and mainly wants to play. However, you know that he is not very punctual, cannot be relied on and will leave you to go and work on a larger pool with better benefits without giving you notice. But should he prove himself to be reliable and have some attention to details you might be able to promote him to...

• The Gardener:

The Gardener is a bit more mature. He knows how to look after a nice flower and will put some love and attention to it. Like the Pool boy he has his own accommodation away from your home, he only comes when he is needed but on a more regular basis than the Pool boy. Your average Pool boy will mainly be used and abused in the summer and only a couple of times in the winter to ensure your pool doesn't freeze over. The Gardener is needed all year around to take care of your secret garden. But be aware that if you start neglecting your garden he will move on to a fresher garden which just doesn't require as much trimming...

But the position that both the Pool boy and the Gardener aspire to is the ultimate one:

• The Butler:

The Butler is the only one who get to live in your home. He is usually a bit older, has an eye for detail and knows what to do and when to do it without you having to tell him. He will wait at your every need day and night. He is more settled and will even look after the kids when you need to go catch up with the girls for a night out. In short, he is the one who will be turning your house into your home.

Thank you CJ for sharing with me this bit of wisdom.

Mixing work and pleasure...

... is it a good idea?
Last night was my work drinks. It is no ordinary drinks. The ratio man-woman is of 100 to 1. Unfortunately most of them are builders, and not the sexy type you might see on Coca Cola ads. More the wide, crack showing type, nothing to get very excited about.
Except... Except for the potential of seeing Mr C outside of the strict walls of the office, and hopefully avoiding total embarrassment. Also maybe finding a bit more about Mr Snag, and to my surprise a query from someone I have longed secretly admired and thought was not interested in me but who seemed keen to know whether I would be attending the festivities.
Mr Snag was a no show.
Mr C only stayed for a bit and I didn't get to chat to him. The truth is I got intimidated by a stunning girl who had join his group and seemed so comfortable with him that I though she may have been his partner. As I found out later she was his PA. A very funny girl. And very flirty.
But the biggest surprised of the night was the interest demonstrated by Mr Smile. We started chatting on a regular basis over lunch a few months back (I refuse to seat at my desk for lunch and so I will often make use of the kitchenette provided in my office). He has always be interesting to talk too. He is cute, half Malaysian/ half English. He has an amazing smile that just makes you melt. He is probably shorter than I would normally go for but his charms make up for it.
Although I had a bit of a crush on him, I had come to the conclusion that he wasn't "into me". He was always lovely with me, but seemed to display the same niceness towards my colleagues. I had put him in the "Just a lovely guy" category and moved on. But last night, he wasn't just being his charming self. He made sure that I spend some time with him. He waved me towards him as I was moving from one group to the other in true "Rule Girl" style. When I went to get some food (The British "Eating is Cheating" rule has never caught up with me), he accompanied me and found seats for us. When we went back to the bar area, one of my French friend (in his fifties) decided to introduce me to his entire team, all male, and then went on to to tell me about his divorce. Mr Smile moved on to catch up with his colleagues. I went on to mingle a bit more...
About one hour later I passed near him after being told that a drink was waiting for me at the other end of the bar... He called after me, asking where I had been and when will I be back chatting with him. I told him that I would be back soon to explain. I had a quick chat with my client and a few more colleagues and only then went back to see him. A little while later my French friend came with two twenty something guys, all speaking French and greeting me in the traditional French way, shake hands and the compulsory kisses on the cheeks. I failed to do the introduction as my friend was getting quite agitated, due to excessive alcohol consumption and the excitement created by his two new companions. Mr Smile must have felt threaten as he just jumped in, stretch his hand to one of the two lads and with his best French went: "Bonjour! Ca va?" to the point where my new friends thought he actually did speak French. I realised my lack of manners and quickly corrected: "Mr Smile, those are my friends two sons, Frenchy and Froggy..." His face pretty much collapsed. I think he thought he had made a complete fool of himself. I thought it was the cutest thing I had seen in a long time. Nothing wrong with displaying a bit of jealousy.
We discussed a bit more literature, music and West End shows and then it was time to leave. As the true gentleman he is he walked me to the tube station and took the train with me as far as the next stop that allowed him back on his route home.
Nothing happened, yet a lot seemed to. But, there is always a but, for one, we work in the same office, only for another 3 weeks... but worst, he is moving to Kenya for 6 months.
Is it worth any emotional attachment? Or should I maybe just take it as a bit of fun?
Let see what next week brings...

An old man is thinking of you, a young one wants to kiss you

That's one of my mum's favourite say whenever someone gets an itchy nose. Mine has been itching quite a bit lately, and it looks like mum may have been right all that time.
One of my colleagues at work to me asked me, in his trying hard to be casual voice: "How old are you?"
Me: "We've already been through that..."
Him: "I know but I forgot"
Me: "33"
"Would you consider dating a younger man?"
"Yeah, why not... Why?"
"I may have someone to fix you with..." said with a cheeky smile on his face
"Ok, who is he?"
"I can't tell you. He is quite young and he would kill me if I tell you. But let's face it, there isn't many young guys in the office!"

I would say there are 3 seriously younger guys in the office. 2 cute ones, one not as cute... I kind of have an idea on who it could be but the question is, do I want to play that game on my doorstep?