I've recently gone back to being on my own after a number of years in a relationship and to be honest I'd forgotten what it was like. Certainly not a disaster, but difficult at times. The inspiration for this blog came as I was sitting having a meal out on a city break holiday that I'd been so proud I'd arranged for myself. As I sat there, on my own, I realised that I didn't really like it. The only way I got through the meail was with the help and advice on how to look, and therefore feel, less conspicuous and alone that my friends were good enough to send me in reply to my increasingly desperate text messages! Unless you've done it you might not know how awkward and uncomfortable eating on your own in public can be - not all the time, just sometimes.
And there's the catch - what makes it ok sometimes but not others? Attitude has something to do with it, to be sure, as does choosing the right venue, and a whole host of other factors. What I'm hoping to do through this blog is explore a few of them - for eating out and other situations people can find themselves in - and share my experiences with you in the hopes that they might help. Or at the very least, make you smile.
As I was sitting in the bistro, trying not to feel sorry for myself, I realised that people can be on their own for any number of reasons - through relationship breakup or bereavement, through being away on business or coping while their regular partner is away, or even just trying to carve out some much wanted 'me' time but not sure how to make the best of it. Whatever the reason, however, the impact can be the same, and maybe some of the solutions can be too. So here we are with Single Fish!
If you're wondering about the name - I'm a Pisces and I'm on my own, so Single Fish seemed appropriate. But it's also how you order a Fish and Chips in Scotland without the chips. With chips, it's a Fish Supper but without them it's a Single Fish (even if there are two pieces of fish!!). I'd like to say I was being clever and going for a double meaning on the title - living without accompaniments - but I didn't think about that until after I'd chosen the name.
And if you're wondering how I got through the meal? It was my mobile phone that saved the day - not for phone calls as that would have just been a) very annoying for the other diners and b) would probably have just fuelled my self pity and had me in tears. Instead I used it to send and receive texts, to surf the Internet and update my Facebook status. And when I'd finished doing all of those I checked my photos, tidied up my contacts list and learned how to change all the settings - basically pretty much anything that kept me busy until the end of the meal. A word of advice however - if you're going to do that, make sure your phone is on its silent setting or you'll just draw even more attention to yourself!
