Monday 25 October 2010

19 Foreign Matter

So there I was working hard in Lanzarote (okay, okay I was working in Lanzarote) instructing my cameraman what shots to get, as well as ordering a barman do his best Tom Cruise impression for the camera, when a couple of guys that had sat watching me hard at it, motioned for me to go over to them.

I went expecting one of the usual questions...

A/ What are you filming?
B/ What a great job you have, how did you get in to that?
C/ Can I be on camera?

Or in this instance there could have been an extra option...

D/ Why are you such a bossy boots?

Turns out it was none of the above. Instead, no sooner had I approached them when one of them asked in a foreign accent if he could have my phone number.

Jeez, if I had a pound for every time a guy asks me that...

Actually in all seriousness, similar things have happened to me a couple of times before. And by things I mean forward foreign men.

I wasn't exactly overjoyed about it the first time, due to the fact that I was rushing to catch a train. What part of seeing a girl virtually running across a platform would make the guy in question think I had enough time to (and would want to) stop and give a stranger my phone number?

The second time occurred when I was lying alone on an almost deserted beach in Australia. A guy suddenly appeared in front of me, blocking my sunrays, and asked in broken English if I would be his girlfriend.

I kid you not. No other chit-chat. He didn't even want to try going on a date first. What I couldn't understand is why he thought I'd be suitable partner material. I was lying miles from anyone. He must have had special binoculars to check whether he'd want me for that role.

Needless to say neither of them got a positive response from me. It did make me think about the difference between nationalities though. Do we Brits have it wrong? Are we wasting far too much time by making small talk. Should we start getting straight to the point and stop dilly-dallying?

Anyway back to man in Lanzarote. I asked him what he would do with the number if I gave him it and the conversation went a bit like this...

Lanza Man: I would phone you and take you on a date.

Me: I don't live in Lanzarote though.

Lanza Man: Where do you live?

Me: Manchester.

Lanza Man: I will come there then.

Me: That's a long way to come for a date.

Lanza Man: I will come for forever...


So of course I gave him my number.

What?! What's wrong with that??? OK, I've made it pretty clear that I wasn't happy about the forwardness (or weirdness in the second instance) of the men from the other occasions, but this time was different for two reasons...

Number 1 - Back then I didn't write a blog. You may be surprised to know this but sometimes I do things nowadays just cause they might be interesting for you to read about. Similarly if I go on a bad date part of me is gutted and the other part is rubbing my hands in glee at the thought of typing up the details later on. Read Mr Trafford Centre for the perfect example.

Number 2 - Did I mention that Lanza Man was Hot, Hot, Hot with a capital H! H! H!?

Two perfectly good reasons why I ended up giving my digits to a guy despite not knowing his name, age, where he was from, whether he was single, hobbies etc, etc..

Within half an hour my phone rang with an unknown number...

19 comments:

Lisa said...

I used to live in Dubai. Somebody once left me a note on my car, telling me I was very beautiful and giving me their mobile number.

Which is lovely really, but I have never truly understood why people (I probably mean, men) think that this is going to be a successful way of getting a date. Whereas in reality I just presumed he was a murdering psychopath...

Katherina said...

I've also experienced the "do you want to be my girlfriend?" thing a few times. But its rather the frenchmen. Its impressive, though, that a spanish guy does this (although guys in the Canary Islands have a much more latin attitude, so maybe that's the reason for this straight-to-the-point-ness!).

Anonymous said...

...and you leave us hanging on....

Tease !!!

Mind you it wouldn't be the first time if there were unfulfilled promise !

tb

Miss OverThinker said...

Agree with anonymous.. you leave us hanging once again.. I get the creeps when I am approached like that.. but then again it's been ages since something like that happened to me.. may be I'll welcome it now if it happens again.

Lifebeginsat30ty said...

I think it comes from being too nice. I'm going with creepy as well! I once got asked out by a taxi man. Oh, and some guy sitting next to me at a Starbucks in Newcastle. Both creepy. Now HOT is a different story ;)

jo said...

i've forgotten what it's like to have been approached by a hot man, heck by any man. so yes, can't wait to hear the rest of the story...

Pupa said...

Good one!

I once had this with a guy on a train... but I wasn't the one on the receiving end! We'd been staring at each other for the whole journey (3+ hours) and neither of us had dared to make a move. He was sizzling hot. At my stop, I scribbled my name and number on a bit of paper, put it in his hands, smiled and left. I don't know where I found the guts to do that. I have to add that I lived in Italy back then - yes, us foreigners are a lot more forward when it comes to meeting people :-)

In case you're interested, he called that evening, we went on a few great dates but it never went anywhere due to distance and different interests.

Let us know how it went with Lanza man! Great work Rapunzel, I've been reading your blog for ages and I can't get enough!

Francesca

Toni said...

I think the guy deserves a date just for his confidence, I mean how else is he going to get a passport? When he approached you I assume you were lying face towards the sand so he didn't know if you were some kind of freak show. Girls are much better at this than men, in my experience their standard technique is heading to the ladies and pretending to pick up a piece of paper with their number on it and say "Oh, I think you dropped this".
This has happened to me quite a few times, even when I have been with other women, once when I was taking my mother out to dinner. Still, in your case I am sure it was more than just a visa issue - I have seen parts of your face on Fishies blog and you would make Scotland proud.

Anonymous said...

A cliff hanger and 1 month later no follow up? Such a tease! That's okay, you're still loved though!

Glen said...

Ah we men can very quickly tell if a girl is suitable material - On a beach the evidence is easier to see, bless us!

Live to be fickle - it's better that way.

confidence and making girls laugh always works **

** as long as you is hot hot hot

MorganBTWS said...

I have a feeling this is where its at.

My friend's parents met in Nicaragua, she was a local selling sea shells on the beach, he was a German tourist. They couldn't communicate one word, but got married 3 weeks later. They've been together 30+ years. (only difference is they can actually understand each other now)

Don't know how it works, but it's damn romantic.

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anan said...

Agree with anonymous.. you leave us hanging once again.. I get the creeps when I am approached like that.. but then again it's been ages since something like that happened to me.. may be I'll welcome it now if it happens again.stillhouseranch |

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