November has been an interesting month. It started cold and
got colder. I’ve been swamped with uni work, Trump became president, it was my
sister’s 17th and my 20th birthdays, and Tommy went away
to Bali for two weeks. I’ve also been struggling through a bout of depression,
which I always tend to get around this time of year. So, I was in a desperate
need of a break.
Last Friday, on the 25th, Tommy came back from
Bali so I jumped on a train to meet him in Bournemouth. I’m not going to lie
here; I was terrified. I get anxious on trains anyway, even when I just have to
get one that goes directly there, so when it turned out that I had to get not
one, not two, but three trains to get
both to and from Bournemouth, I wanted to cry. Nevertheless, I got up at 5am
and got a bus to the station with my heart racing. Fortunately, although it was
stressful at times with a train blocking one of the lines and delays on
another, I got there on time and in one piece.
It was so good to see Tommy again. This was the longest we’d
been apart and the least we’d been able to talk since we met, and it was hard.
We’ve been officially together for just over three months now and it’s amazing
how much a person can mean to you in that short amount of time. Tommy means the
world to me.
Once we’d caught up, Tommy then took me to meet his dad, who
is so lovely. The three of us then went on a walk around Bournemouth, which
included going for lunch and visiting Mary Shelley’s grave. Afterwards, Tommy
and I checked into our hotel and promptly both fell asleep. That evening, once
we’d woke up from our naps and shook off the grogginess, we went out for
cocktails. Oh my god, those Pina Coladas were amazing!
The next morning, Tommy took me out for breakfast. We went
for a walk by the sea and then indulged in lots of bacon-and-eggs goodness.
After another walk along the beach back to our hotel, which involved lots of
talking about tongue twisters (she sells
sea shells on the sea shore), we decided to go swimming in the hotel’s
pool. Because of a childhood of traumatic swimming lessons in which I was
haunted by a lack of body confidence, I never learned to swim, so Tommy taught
me. I loved it! Now I want to swim all the time!
Later, we visited Tommy’s friend’s house and went for a meal
with them, which was a lot of fun. We were so tired by the end of the night
that we crashed out as soon as we got back to the hotel.
The next morning, Tommy bought us drinks and breakfast and
we checked out of the hotel at 10am, still half asleep. We then met up with his
dad and went for another lovely walk around beautiful Bournemouth, which
involved a fun game of mini golf (I didn’t
cheat, I swear!). Sadly, the time came when we all had to go our separate
ways and head home. Tommy got his coach back to the midlands and I got my train
back to uni.
I hate saying goodbye to Tommy. Whenever one of us gets on a
train or bus and leaves the other behind, it’s always hard. We want to spend
all our time together, but university calls and here I am again, desperately
trying to meet my deadlines.
I had such an amazing, lovely time in Bournemouth. I highly
recommend it as a seaside place to visit in the UK. Even now in winter, it’s
beautiful, with their gorgeous Christmas market full of the mouth-watering
smells of sausages cooking and festive fun like ice-skating. I can’t wait to go
back again in the new year.
