Keswick Lad

As a press photographer in Nottingham I get to meet many wonderful people. Recently the Daily Mail Weekend magazine gave me a three-part feature for their ‘dating’ page.   I was to tag along with the same couple on three different dates to illustrate an article on blind dates.

I turned up for the first date full of good intentions and determined to do my best ‘Cilla Black’ match making.  We all met at a Salsa Class in the upstairs room of a very dark pub on a cold, wet Friday night – not the best of starts.  Eric is a 40-year-old building surveyor from Derby and his date was Lisa a 41-year-old who works in finance from Nottingham.  Because of the poor lighting I had to be a little more obvious than I had hoped but things went quite well.  Lisa & Eric seemed to get along OK despite me being a bit of a pain and, most importantly, I had my pictures.

Date two was a trip to the new Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery.  We all met up and were taken on a guided tour.  Things were slightly better this time and Eric was even cracking a few jokes at my expense.

Then we came to date three, Newstead Abbey, the former home of the legendary lover Lord Byron.  I arrived early on the beautiful Sunday morning and proceeded to our meeting point in the Abbey cafe.  I met up with the guide before the happy couple arrived and I suggested I take my pictures and then leave the couple to their romantic stroll around the Abbey – that was agreed.

Eric & Lisa appeared as arranged and after a walk around the grounds to take the pictures we wandered back into the cafe to rejoin the guide.  I was making my excuses and thanking everyone for their trouble when Lisa suggested I join them on their guided tour.  The guide joined in by saying we could walk together and leave the ‘lovers’ on their own.  What do I do now ?  Do I upset them by refusing their offer or go along as ‘the gooseberry’ ?

I have never had the chance to look around the inside of Newstead Abbey, so I decided to go along.  This did not go down too well with Eric but I had now said I would go – I was stuck.

Eric was not happy, but I kept out-of-the-way and did not take any pictures to ruin the moment, as we had agreed.

I kept my distance and never said a word, as soon as the tour finished it was a quick thank you, goodbye and I was off……

A few week later the article appeared and I discovered the headline ‘Lisa asked the photographer to join us, like she needed a chaperone’.

Sorry Eric, I did not mean to ruin your date – so it looks like I will not be replacing Cilla Black after all !

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