Well that was a busy weekend!

After my skydive at Skydive London on Friday – photos and videos to follow! – I got back to the apartment late, late on Friday night.

An early start on Saturday morning, as I was heading up to Norfolk to see my kids. Big pre-match lunch at Nando’s before going on to the Norwich v Blackburn match at Carrow Road. After the match – a real thriller and a well-deserved draw – I drove down to Epsom for GT’s 40th birthday party. She looked really gorgeous in the LBD from Ted Baker and French Connection killer heels that I’d picked out! Great food and a great atmosphere too at the Barley Mow where Phil and Cil took good care of all of us and in Cil’s case, slightly overdid the drinks…

Thank goodness the clocks went back, as it was a late night and I had an early start to head back up to Norfolk for Jack’s football and a family lunch before heading back down to London again!

When I got back, a text from a very good friend reminded me of this time last year: a Hallowe’en Party hosted – obviously to be the centre of attention as always! – by my ex-girlfriend in Grimsby. The exchange started something like this:

“This time last year…”

“…wearing masks and pretending to be someone else. And that was just [the ex]. The rest of us were having a Hallowe’en Party!”

Of course by this time, she was already cheating on me whilst professing undying love, etc. I wasn’t to know at this point that it was my wallet she actually loved and everything else was merely escorting… Still, Karma’s a bitch, as they say, and the ex’s new true love is apparently Jack Daniels. That, coupled with her inability to sleep these days – guilt maybe? Yeah right! – has really taken its toll on her looks, and of course her family have apparently all turned against her so she hasn’t even got them any more to use. She’s apparently clinging on to the poor sap who, like her, seems unable to maintain an er… I mean a relationship. I wonder if she told him about her claim last Christmas that she was pregnant by me as a ruse to get me back, even saying that she could ‘fix’ our relationship and lose the loser? Of course that pregnancy miraculously disappeared all by itself when she realised that I wasn’t having anything to do with her and wasn’t sure who the father might have been – one of many potentials – in the very unlikely event she was telling the truth!

All academic, really, and I honestly do thank her from the bottom of my heart: she saved me from throwing my life away with her and her duplicity before I’d wasted too much time (just far too much money) on her. I learned a valuable life lesson too: there will always be those who take advantage of good people like me. What goes around come around…

Oh wait – that’s a tattoo someone else has: the ex used to regularly take the piss out of her behind her back, despite this poor woman being a genuinely nice person. Of course now with the departure of her oldest and dearest friends – again used and lied to like the rest of us – it’s funny how this poor girl is now the ex’s supposed best friend! Still, given the poor lass was interested in the ex’s local hero before the ex ensured they didn’t get together, she’s clearly trying to keep any friends close and her enemies closer still. Trust is a wonderful thing and the levels of paranoia are high with her! It’s also interesting to note how she’s also trying to break up her friends’ relationships to feel better about her own inadequacies.

So the text exchange compared and contrasted my ex with GT: the differences couldn’t be more profound. It’s good to reflect on things sometimes and better to be thankful for where you are today. It’s funny how after I posted a photo of me in Madrid last week to Facebook, a number of friends commented on how much happier I look these days when compared to this time last year. How true!