Visiting Mr Smiles

Mistake 159- A month after meeting Mr Smiles (from mistake # 154), I flew to visit him in London. The first night everything was good. He took me out to dinner with a bunch of his friends. A lot were visiting from his home country. It was a fun night. We went to a Mongolian BBQ and it was my first time at one of those type of restaurants.

The next night, I had plans to go to a party. He had other plans. No problem. But then he started getting phone calls. He would leave the room each time. I soon learned it was his ex girlfriend was calling. She somehow heard about me. And she was supposed to be going to the same party as me. She told him she did not want me going because she did not want to meet me. I told her I graduated high school a long time ago and was not playing these games. He asked me not to go so he would not have to listen to her complaints. I told him he does not rule me. I was invited to this party by a friend that really wanted to see me. I was going! I was getting upset by the drama so I went to my usual cure: get drunk!

I got tipsy before leaving his house. He gave me a key to the inner door but did not have a spare for the front, main door. He told me not to worry. They would leave that door unlocked. He should be home before me anyways.

I got to the party okay. I was good with figuring out the tube system back then from many visits to London. I remember being very drunk on the tube back to his place. After a few stations, the train stopped. They announced there was a slight delay. I did not feel like waiting. I got out and went above ground. I would just get a taxi.

I walked and walked. I kept trying to wave down a cab but none would stop. I did not realize that in London, you need to get a taxi at a taxi stand or calling to an address. (Or at least that was how I understood it?) My feet were hurting because I was wearing new high-heeled boots. I found a bus stop by two buses passed me. I guess they were full. After hour of walking, (or maybe not that long?), I finally came to another tube station. It was late but I managed to get the last train to his house. If my drunk ass was patient the first time I was on the train, this would not have happened.

When I finally got there, the front door was locked. I couldn’t get in. I tried to text and then call him. He wasn’t replying nor answering. I did not want to ring the bell and wake up his housemates. I was still drunk and an emotional mess by this point. I jumped the fence to his garden. I thought maybe the backdoor was unlocked. Nope, that was locked also. I tried to see if I could open a window. Nope. I sat outside crying. Then I heard someone come downstairs. I was too embarrassed for his housemates to see me like that so I hid. I heard the door open and one of them call out “anyone out there?” I kept quiet.

After he went back inside, I climbed back over the fence. I went and sat by the front door. I cried myself to sleep.

Mr Smiles was home shortly. He was very drunk. He apologized for the door being locked. We went inside and to bed.

The next day, he said his housemates heard something in the backyard the previous night. Was that me? I confessed my little Spider-Man stunt of climbing over the fence. “Why didn’t you ring the bell?”

“WHY WEREN’T YOU HOME!”

This lead to a fight. I accused him of being with the ex-girlfriend. He accused me of being crazy. Both might have been the truth. We never talked again.

Training

Today I had a meeting with a trainer at the gym.  He asked me questions to figure out who to pair me up with and gave me some advice to meet my fitness goals. A lot of what he said made me think of my sobriety goals.

-gonna take awhile
-little bit at a time
-even when I am not at the gym (AA meeting), I have to focus on my goals

I was very happy when he asked me if I drink alcohol and I replied “I quit.” He said “good for you!” He asked if I had anyone supporting me in my fitness goals. I said no. I am alone. That is also how I feel with going sober. Maybe I should start a fitness blog also?

As he went on about long term goals, I did not tell him I most likely will be moving from the area in May. It makes me feel deceitful. I hope I can continue my goals to work out wherever I do move just like I hope I keep going to AA there.

I feel the next few months of my life will be work, sleep, blog, read, AA meetings,  and the gym.  Oh, and Walking Dead every Sunday night. I have a few plans for friends to visit and to visit friends while I am living in this area.  I will wait until just prior to the visitation to tell them I quit drinking. Lucky for me, most of the plans are with friends with whom I have a real relationship. Meaning, there is more to the friendship than partying. I know what they do for a living! I have or will meet their children!

I am in training to get fit and sober!

Mistake # 26- Five years ago, I took off 5 weeks inbetween jobs to travel Europe. I had my flights booked. I had a Eurorail pass for the train. First stop was a few nights in London to visit a friend. It was her 30th birthday party. We drank a lot of wine and mojitos, her favorite drink. The ones I made were crap but very strong. I passed out in her spare room. Good thing I was staying with her for my visit.

I did not see any sites of London the next day because I was hungover.

The next night, I went out with one of her friends. The birthday girl stayed home because she needed a night off from drinking. Wuss. We went to a pub to meet up with a large group of travelers. Pints were about £2 each which is very cheap for London. I drank a lot until the place closed at 11pm. One of the guys was a member at an after hours club. He was able to get us all in. I do not remember much once there. I was glad I had her friend with me to get me back to where I was staying. I can not imagine trying to navigate London’s bus system drunk.

I woke up the next day to get ready for a flight to Amsterdam. Then I realized my travel purse was missing. My travel purse with my money, credit cards, and passport. I felt like an idiot. I felt lost. I was scared. I missed my flight but was glad it was with a discount airline. I maybe lost only $40.  I used my friend’s computer to try to look up getting a new passport from the US Embassy. It was Sunday so I would have to wait until the next day and it would still take a few days.  Did I just ruin my whole trip?

I called and left a message with the club. I felt it was useless. I did not know when they would open. I sat around my friend’s house crying and regretting the night. I should have stayed in with her. She tried to cheer me up. She offered me some of her good wine. Finally around 5pm, she received a phone call from the club. They had my purse! Everything was in it.

I booked a new flight for early the next day. I only missed out on 1 day of the trip! I was still able to see the few things I wanted to see in Amsterdam and visit friends in other Dutch cities. I did not lose my passport again the rest of the trip.

But I did make more drunk mistakes.