A few magazine commission offers came through last week. Brief one: to review a sex show in the Red Light District. Hot Danish wasn’t interested in either of us going – he said the review would interrupt our weekend plans. Brief two: an erotic film company feature. ‘Who’s the porn studio feature for? Every man’s (wet) dream, I guess. Do let me know if you need an assistant reporter ;-),’ Wine Writer emailed after I let him know how I am settling into my new life.
HD’s response was somewhat different. ‘What do you have to do for this feature?’ he asked. ‘What kind of films does the director produce? Are you sure you want to write it?’ Having once lived in the RLD, the seedier side of Amsterdam holds little intrigue for HD. What’s more, he knows that the boundaries of what is perceived as ‘normal’ are stretched much further here than in London. I, on the other hand, am still amused by the fact that swearwords are allowed on daytime radio.
The weekend plans included staying with friends in Hampshire. Being a terrible tennis player, I chose to help my friend’s grandmother prepare lunch while the others went off to the court. ‘The boys work hard,’ she noted, having spotted them checking their Blackberrys. We chatted about our childhoods and experience of relationships. ‘Do you want children?’ she asked.
‘No, I’ve never felt broody.’
‘Perhaps it is due to your personal experience of being brought up in a single-parent family,’ she suggested. ‘I had a long engagement in the days before the pill,’ she revealed. ‘I think it is more difficult in these fast-paced days. People want a lot yet see divorce all around them.’
‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘Perhaps we all have too high expectations these days.’
‘I think it is best not to expect anything. A man has to work hard and it’s no use nagging.’ She was right, of course and her timing couldn’t have been better: I’d recently argued with HD about his work. ‘I used to think my husband didn’t have time for me, but he made it clear towards the end that he had always truly loved me. It is hard: a man wants a mother, a lover and a concubine. But it’s worth it for the love.’ Her words had made this week’s blog the easiest of my writing assignments.
