We met..... in The start of something?

Back in 1997 when the internet was still fairly new, I decided I wanted penpals. I’d had penpals since I was in school and the internet made it easier now to communicate via email…

So I got onto a site and exchanged email addresses… One of those people I exchanged email addresses with I’ll call Matthew.

I was married to my first husband at that time. Not that that means anything. There was never anything romantic about the communication with Matthew. Matthew is from England. At that time he was working. He came across to me as a bit of a loner, a bit quirky, dry sense of humor and quick wit and also having a caring nature when he wasn’t having a whinge about something or other. Well we all do that I suppose.

So I figured for an online email exchange pal, he was harmless so we continued to correspond.
Matthew had some issues at work and eventually got a redundancy package....
His father passed away and he returned home to live with and care for his mother…

In the last four years he has traveled extensively around Europe. He’d never done so before, but after his father passed away things changed and he wanted to do things he’s always sought to do instead of saying “one day”.
Matthew is extremely geeky about planes. He knows every airline, every model and tons and tons about lots of airports around the world. Did I mention he’s a loner?
He also found his first girlfriend July last year… Matthew is 50.

So while I knew he was geeky and nerdy and sometimes a bit needy, I also had a soft spot for him. It was safe, he was far away.....

And then a few months ago he told me he was planning a trip that would include Australia and a week in my city. Let me be clear, he wasn’t just coming to my city.. he’s had a few Asian stop overs and has already visited 4 or 5 destinations in Australia.. and he’s going on to a few more cities then New Zealand....
He said he would be nice if we could catch up at some point while he was in my city.
I wrote back and said that hubby and I would be happy to take him out somewhere or at least, do something.... At this point I was still thinking it wasn’t really going to happen… I mean this guy hasn’t worked for the last four years how would he be able to do all that travel?

Anyhow, last Monday he arrived… through wifi access dependent conversations we agreed that he would meet me after work on Friday.. Friday just gone… 4.45pm
Now THANKFULLY my wonderful friend Barbara who is also facebook friends with Matthew (through me) agreed to meet him too however she wasn’t going to be available till after 7pm. when I found that out I was worried… I was going to have to spend two hours with him on my own and what if we didn’t get on?
People at work were a bit concerned about it and ribbing me about it also....

So Friday after work, I go into the foyer were he was to meet me and he wasn’t there.... I was hoping he’d chickened out but no, five minutes later he arrives. Now I have only ever seen one murky photo of Matthew in all this time so I had no idea what to expect but he told me he’d be wearing a Queen t-shirt and carrying an orange back.. so I knew it was him.

It was an awkward hello. I figured we’d have to hug but he came in for a kiss too and thank bloody christ I turned my head or it would have been on the lips. He did not take his eyes off me… We started walking off in the direction of the Casino as I had no idea where else to go for a drink … so we went into one of the bars there and the whole time he has this intent stare. This, “I’m a serial killer” type stare. It really unnerved me. He is also a quiet talker. I had to say “pardon” almost every time he spoke. He didn’t make any effort to talk any louder so I had to come in close to hear what he was saying. I think he was kind of nervous too. I’m not really sure… He could be just really insecure, or he could come and find me tonight and murder me in my sleep..who knows… I just got the feeling that something wasn’t right about him.

After an excruciatingly long time, Barbara came and I felt a bit let off the hook as she’s a great conversationalist but she couldn’t hear what he was saying either…
Hubby was working till 7.30 so he didn’t get into the city until after 8pm and when he got there I felt a lot more comfortable…

We all walked to a cafe and got some food.. chatted and then we drove Matthew back to his hostel (lucky no kissy hugs goodbye this time) and Barbara to her car....

He doesn’t leave until Monday morning so he’s still here but neither of us have mentioned meeting up again.... and it’s not that I dislike him. It’s really hard to describe. There was just something off about him. Something that made me feel like this could be unsafe…

And that, dear friends, was my Friday night.