Day 5 (story 1) - My meeting with Blogger Regina

One of the things that I was looking forward to on my vacation was the pre-planned meeting with fellow Blogger Regina.
Photo's above show Regina with me and I had to show one without that ugly bloke on spoiling the pic.

This is my story (you can read Regina's version on her blog) :-

We had communicated prior to me leaving England via e'mail. I couldn't give Regina my Cell phone number as I am on the O2 network and it works in about every country in the world but the USA. Regina selected a restaurant "Joey's Brickhouse" and the plan was for me to phone her cell phone when I arrived to discuss day and time (she was unsure what her work schedule was).
On arriving in Chicago and booking into my hotel I tried to phone Regina but no way could I get through from the Hotel phones (I even tried to get the front desk to try the number). I was panicking, had I brought the wrong number ? that would have been a total disaster. On my way out that night I saw a pay phone on a sub way station platform and decided to give it one more try. Relief I got through but the minute we started talking a train came in and with our accents and the noise from the train communication proved impossible. Eventually the train left and the date was set for Sunday at 6.30pm, Regina explained how to get there, it was a 10 minute walk from Belmont subway stop.
Now I didn't tell Regina this bit but I cheated and did a dry run on saturday, I timed myself going from my Hotel by subway then walking to the restaurant (never went in). I did not want anything to go wrong there was no way I would fail to find it or be late on Sunday.

Sunday came and as planned I got to the restaurant before 6.30pm (Its my opinion that the man should get there slightly before the lady). I had just got sat down at our table when I saw Regina arrive at the door right on time, as she spoke to the hostess I got up to greet her. Now I have seen the photo's Regina has posted on her blog so I knew she was an attractive lady. But for the benifit of any males that read this let me tell you she is absolutely stunning, fantastic hair, lovely eyes and an amazing smile, I was gobsmacked. In fact the thought ran through my mind that she had bottled it and sent her much younger sister instead.

I had planned to great Regina calmly but I lost self control for a few seconds and moved to give her a welcoming hug and friendship kiss. Regina's action made me realise I had dropped a clanger, I was only too pleased she didn't do a runner. When we sat down to order our meal I could feel myself getting really nervous, scared to do or say anything wrong, Regina then told me she was feeling crap as she was getting frustrated with her job situation, she did add she was pleased to be out and not at home alone.

We ordered our meals and Regina actually talked about my earlier clanger explaining that ladies from her American background don't like closeness until they really get to know a person. This was nice of her and relaxed me slightly, I think she realised it was a genuine mistake on my part.

For the main meal I had Chicken and I can't remember what Regina ate. We talked about all sorts of different subjects including other bloggers, I was very surprised how few of Regina's blog friends she actually had ever met, I had assumed some were past friends. We also talked about the differences in our two countries, agreeing and disagreeing on some points. Other subjects included the immigration march that was going to happen the following day. We talked about each other and came to the conclusion we were very different personality types.

We moved on to eating a sweet (Regina insisted), I forced a small piece of cherry cheesecake down just to be polite. Regina ordered banana split, when it came it mas one Banana with a ton of ice cream, thinking of her diet Regina left the banana but slaughtered the ice cream.

The time came for the photograph of proof but Regina amused me when she insisted on putting on lipstick first (My opinion Regina it was impossible to look better than you did), we got a waiter to take the photo.

When we left the restaurant and prepared to walk to the subway Regina turned to me and said now I know you its ok to give me a hug which I did. Following my earlier mistake this made my day. We carried on talking on the 10 minute walk to the subway station, when we got there Regina gave me a goodbye hug (in friendship). It was just before 9pm and she went north home and I went south back to downtown Chicago (follow up story on what happend later to come).

I must admit I did toy with the idea of asking her if she wanted to go to a bar for a couple of drinks but I decided after the early error it was not such a good idea.

My conclusion on this meeting is I enjoyed it despite the bad start, Regina and myself are very different but more important I actually really like her, she is a very nice person.

Will we meet again ? Well I am in Chicago on July 2nd for 8 nights and if its up to me there is only one answer "Yes".

After I got back to my hotel I did realise I had made another mistake, I wanted a copy of Regina's CD and forgot to ask.