Yep, the dates are set, although not in concrete. I will be coming back to the British Isles at the end of Summer, start of Autumn.
The first dates range is 20-09 -> 06-10, but I am already contemplating of making it a full three weeks ordeal, 18-09 -> 10-10.
Will be visiting Wales, Devon and Cornwall and no matter what else, at least be meeting Annie. Perhaps pass by on Rob again, if he wants to have me and wants to share me with the mosquitoes.

There's also that special date/day 02-10, where I turn 50. It's not a date that I want to celebrate in The Netherlands, but rather be with some friends on a beach in sunny Cornwall. It's got to be sunnier than my past ordeal. And Brexit, oh well, that's past then so things will probably be even cheaper. :)

So go on, post in this thread if you want to come celebrate my 50th birthday. We'll figure something out.
Andy, this time you're not off the hook! :-)

There's also that special date/day 02-10, where I turn 50. It's not a date that I want to celebrate in The Netherlands, but rather be with some friends on a beach in sunny Cornwall.

You'll want to research the um... birthday customs then... Here. They can be a bit... odd sometimes. Particularly the first time they're performed on you, when they can most easily lead to misunderstandings. Yes...

So after an English breakfast, having negotiated the English roads with English drivers, sitting on an English beach, surrounded by my two English friends who turned up, you tell me I have to submit myself to their English way of throwing a party? I'd best get to like Marmite crisps then. 😰🤢🤮😞😬😊

And Brexit, oh well, that's past then

Maybe!

The first dates range is 20-09 -> 06-10, but I am already contemplating of making it a full three weeks ordeal, 18-09 -> 10-10.

The dates are going to be 18-09 --> 10-10, and as it now looks I will not be coming alone. Asked Isa early this time and she said yes. Just there, she didn't even have to think about it. So yes, I am very happy.

The first dates range is 20-09 -> 06-10, but I am already contemplating of making it a full three weeks ordeal, 18-09 -> 10-10.

The dates are going to be 18-09 --> 10-10, and as it now looks I will not be coming alone. Asked Isa early this time and she said yes. Just there, she didn't even have to think about it. So yes, I am very happy.

Haven't planned that far ahead yet.

You'll be glad you missed this on your last visit to Richard's part of the country. Ilkley Moor fire: Crews battling 'intense' moorland blaze

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You'll be glad you missed this on your last visit to Richard's part of the country. Ilkley Moor fire: Crews battling 'intense' moorland blaze

Haven't been up there to investigate yet - it's centred on the other side of the moor from me - but we often see small columns of smoke from up there. Bradford Council has banned game shooting on the public parts of the moor, but the private parts are actively managed for, I think, grouse, and the old heather is burned off in late winter to encourage new ground cover for the young chicks in spring.

As usual, the media is getting over excited about their 'dramatic' pictures: Notre Dame it ain't. A few years ago (2006), we had Aftermath of moor fire will be felt for years, with supposedly centuries of peat below the heather destroyed for ever. It was back to normal within a couple of years, with a bit of normal winter rainfall and regrowth. The fire crews will have a bit of extra overtime because of some silly picnicker, and then it'll be forgotten when the regular news cycle picks up again. Check LBA current conditions for a more realistic view.

I scratched out the last part of my earlier message because things are looking dire. Last week I did something stupid, I wrote my name on the cast around the forearm of Isa's daughter, when no one else had done so.

This was an oversight on my part, but apparently a breakpoint for her. She's thrown me out of her life, blocked me on her phone etc. This woman is crazy. A friend of hers hits her in the eye, twice, but they're still friends. I do something stupid and I am cast out.

Well, her loss.

This woman is crazy

Suggest you look in other ponds. ;)

Show me a man that says he understands women & I'll show you a liar. :-)
In my family circle, the ratio of females to males was 4-1(immediate family 7 v 3).
Family gatherings were "nice" all that PMT under one roof, surprised it never got raised or blown off. :-)
Crazy? Debatable. Weird? Definitely.

It gets weirder. In the end she didn't block me, had just had her phone turned off or something. Yesterday I asked her if she was still mad at me and how her eye was. Only got an answer that her eye was fine. So yeah. But today she started talking to me. Small words. We're not fine yet but we're apparently no longer at Defcon 1 either.

I know she hates talks, but we really need one. Just her and me, because when you call someone in anger and you tell them you're going to block them, tell them you're going to cast them out of your life, then hang up... then you don't call back 5 minutes later for a new and even longer tirade about the same thing. I believe she loves me but is afraid to acknowledge that to herself. It doesn't help me that I do love her.

I believe she loves me but is afraid to acknowledge that to herself. It doesn't help me that I do love her.

Funny you should say that. Welcome to the zany world of men & the women we fall for. Picture the scene:
You've had a long week & a tough day at the office, so stop off on the way home to grab a drink & meal to avoid the cackling of a large group of females on a Friday night.
You arrive home, get changed & sit in the lounge out of the way & drift off. That is until you are woken by 2 strange voices who shouldn't be there (thought I was in the wrong house for a sec)

Standing in the lounge doorway are 2 females both dressed in a French Maid's outfit (they were attending an engagement party - weird I know). 1 5'4" & the other 6'2". The smaller girl was the one getting engaged & had arranged with her brother's girlfriend(my oldest female sibling) to get changed at my home (both were 17 & back then parents were...). The tall one shook me up. IMO, a stunning beauty. I only knew her 1st name (sister told me).

We headed off to the party with my sister & boyfriend trailing me, the 2 girls ahead of me. Every so often, the tall one would slyly look behind her at me. I liked, so much so when I found out where she worked, called her. After that call, she turned up at the house every week for 3 years. Approx. 9 months after that phone call, I returned from Germany. The attention received from that girl was IMO not only welcome but also sensual. However, I felt something was wrong & still not sure to this day if I was right. Sat 3rd July 1982 (another sister's wedding) was the last time I saw her.

I was informed in a malicious manner in 2013 not only the tragedies she has experienced in all that time but that everyone in my family knew that she adored me. I found that hard to believe as for 3 years I communicated my feelings yet only received non verbal communications In return.

My personal thoughts in 2013 was that I wished mobile phones had been invented 10 years earlier than they did. :-(

Yeah no, let's not start with "what if's", because we all have similar stories I bet. I sure do. The last woman I was totally smitten with eventually told me years later she was that with me as well, but because I drank so much she never wanted anything to do with me. If only she'd told me then... and of course I drank so much because I didn't know how to talk to her. :-/

I've just done the ultra-crazy thing. I've ordered the ferry tickets already, for both Isa and me. I did add the up to 24 hours before cancellation option, I'm not that super-ultra-crazy. :)
Still 5.5 months to go, for now I feel it'll be all right.

No what ifs from me. I think what you experienced & what your current lady friend is what we all experience one time or another - how to communicate on a level that both can understand. I think that the fear of communication & the fear of being rejected are intertwined.

In the latest news, I offered to bring her and her daughter to the hospital as we originally had agreed upon. She's taken it and thanked me for it. So I guess everything's all right between us. Still, baby steps and taking it easy.

The next visit to the Ross Revenge is set. Saturday September 21st, 2pm. Fingers crossed this time the weather plays nice.
Isa and I are good again, but her coming along is now a maybe, because of her mum going on vacation in about the same time frame.
Our relationship is a complicated one, but when everything's good between us everything's really good. When it's not, well, best hide. But so far we've come out of all our differences stronger than before. And we had some things between us that would've destroyed the friendship between other (normal?) people. So I guess we're doing all right. :)

Stupid Booking.com
I was reserving my room at the same B&B I stayed my last week in March. The site allows for three payment options: immediate, at a later date and at the site. But for that it would not allow me to choose anything other than pay immediately! All other options steered me back to the payment options. Sigh. Okay, I will pay now. I get it.

And we had some things between us that would've destroyed the friendship between other (normal?) people.

Normal is very boring!

Now semi-official that Isa isn't coming along with me. At least not for the full time, but she's thinking about the week around my birthday.
Also, I'm now thinking of having the party in or around Salisbury. Might be easier for people to get to. And I don't know, maybe Richard wants to have me over for a couple more days, so I can see what the moor looks like without freezing my face off. :)

Oh... after the whole fight thing and such with Isa, she's now my best friend. Not just that, but this afternoon she said she wants to be my girlfriend but that that's not going to happen as long as Holly (my ex) is still living with me. She first has to move out before Isa wants the romantic friendship. So, no rush then. :P

She kissed me. Yesterday. She was drunk though so it doesn't really count. Still. 😮😐