#FirstDate #FirstDates #FirstDatesIRL #Dating #CountyWaterford #Dungarvan #Tannery #Ireland #LEGO

First Date #41 was with an Irish woman living in Dungarvan, County Waterford. We matched on Bumble. We texted back and forth for about a month before meeting. Oftentimes women want to get to know their match as well as possible before meeting to make sure they feel safe and that the fella is a good match, but this was also during COVID, so there was an extra delay in meeting. During this time, I found out that she liked to play board games. Actual board games like Catan not just Monopoly! Huge Green Flag for me. We had a shared interest in Terry Pratchett. She was excited to find out that there were board games based on his books. I also shared some of my poetry with her. She enjoyed one I wrote about Brownie.

I made plans to hire a car and drive to Dungarvan. As previously mentioned, I used the opportunity to set up another First Date on that day too. That was an afternoon coffee/tea, this was a meal in an actual restaurant – a novelty during these strange times. She arrived looking just as pictured and carrying a gift-bag. We went to the back beer garden area to eat. The current menu for Tannery is quite pricey, but they were doing more affordable meals during this era of restrictions which was nice. After ordering our food, FirstDate41 gave me the gift bag. The items pictured below were in it.

Brownie and his chew toy from the poem are included as well as Linc on a pumpkin and a unicorn. What an incredibly thoughtful gift! This woman was definitely paying attention to our conversations and had gone to the trouble of hand making these sculptures. I was incredibly moved by this gesture.

After dinner, I walked her back to her house which was just at the other end of the block. It was less than five minutes from the restaurant – you gotta love towns like this! She had mentioned that she lived with her children, so I only gave her a quick embrace as I departed – I didn’t want to give her a good kiss in case her kids were watching. Plus the ever present COVID. Nevertheless, I walked back to my car with a smile on my face.

(First Date – 1 October, 2020)