#FirstDate #FirstDates #FirstDatesIRL #Dating #Portlaoise #CountyLaois #Ireland #LEGO

First Date #31 was with a Russian woman living in Mountmellick, County Laois. We matched on Tinder. This was well before the current conflict in Ukraine. And even still, Russian people don’t equal Russia. So while I’m not a fan of Russia, that doesn’t necessarily influence my interest in Russian women. And she didn’t seem like a fan of Putin.

Since she works in Portlaoise, we agreed to meet there. This was convenient for me, as I knew I could always take a train/bus to get there if necessary. However, I hired a car and drove to Portlaoise instead. Hiring a car three years ago wasn’t nearly as costly as it is today, and fuel prices weren’t out of control, but our chatting before the date made me think it was going to be worth the trouble.

I met her after she was done with work. The weather wasn’t great (unlike the attached photo), and there wasn’t an open coffee shop around, so I drove her to the nearest Costa. She is a self-proclaimed coffee addict, and I’ll drink a cup a tea at almost any time of day. We had a pretty good conversation considering English wasn’t her first language, and I know almost no Russian.

After the caffeine buzz, I drove her back to her car. I reached across to give a friendly hug and was super surprised to be welcomed by sweet lips instead. We fogged up the windows on this cool summer evening. And then we planned to meet in Kilkenny the following weekend.

(First Date – 20 August, 2019)