I’ve apparently developed a rather annoying habit of complimenting people’s clothing. I was not aware that this was such a huge problem but apparently saying that you like a jumper, pair of trainers, someone’s tits, or a T.-shirt someone is wearing, is not the done thing to do.

I met someone for a cup of herbal tea today. That is right, herbal tea and not beer. I didn’t even slip any whiskey into it, it was 100% herbally goodness.

Her name is Emily and I have known her for a few years. We have an odd friendship where we don’t keep in touch but she will show up in London every couple of years and we’ll met up for a natter and then she’ll disappear for another couple of years and repeat the cycle.

The thing I like about her is she is very straight with me. As she sat down I noticed her jumper and I said “Ooh I like your jumper, Em”. This was met with a stoney silence for about 30 seconds as she just stared at me. She then said “Dean, don’t say things like that, you’re a man, that is weird.”

I don’t know why it is weird, but apparently it is. :-/

For the record I didn’t do the ‘ooh’ part of the sentence in a camp way.

I told her about the stuff that had happened to me recently and she offered me some rather sage advice. I like talking to her because she doesn’t sugar coat her words. If I ask her advice on something she will give it to me straight, she won’t tell me what she thinks I want to hear.

I came away with a few things to think about. It was good to get this kind of advice from a woman’s view. She certainly opened my eyes a little bit to things and showed me that things I have done or said in a good way might not have been seen as this.

If that wasn’t enough I’ve also developed a bit of a ‘thing’ about going out on my own. Saturday night I thought I would go out to a pub. I walked from my house down Bethnal Green Road, up Vallance Road, along Whitechapel Road, got a bus up to Hackney, walked to Angel and then walked all the way back home without going into a single fucking pub!

It isn’t a consistent thing either. The Thursday before I was OK and went to see a Dimebag memorial gig. I never used to be bothered about going to things and places on my own, I am wondering why suddenly I’m incredibly self conscious about it?

My initial reaction was that it might be a side effect of the pills giving me anxiety attacks, but when I think about it I’m almost certain they started BEFORE I started on this course of pills. So I don’t think it could be a side effect.

Photo by pat herman from FreeImages