BLIND DATE
EVERY week, we send a couple out for dinner and report back on their blind date, with a little advice to help the rest of us.
This week, Anthony Hollingsworth-Ellary and Fiona Wager visited 185 Watling Street in Northamptonshire.
Fiona is 59 and has been single for several years. She is a PA and lives in Northampton. Anthony, also 59, is a commercial drone pilot working for the film industry, and consults part-time for a charity in IT, too. He has never married and has no children.
FIONA, 59, SAYS:
I’m coNTENT with my life as I have some great friends and family to do social things with, but there is always something missing. I haven’t focused on dating much.
I’m a bit of a sea dog and love to sail round the Solent, or from Poole to Guernsey, Jersey or France. It certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted, but getting ready for this date felt much more frightening — I just couldn’t get rid of those butterflies all day, though it was lovely to have them, as I haven’t for so long.
When I drove to the venue I was looking for a car parking space and saw a man walking on his own — I did a double take, wondering whether he was the person I was due to meet. When I got to the restaurant, it turned out I was right: I greeted Anthony, a convincing Bill Nighy lookalike, with a hug.
We were both nervous but quickly broke the ice by talking about how we had come to be on this blind date. I asked him where he lived, and spookily, he only lives down the road (almost round the corner), drinking at the same watering holes as me, yet we have never bumped into each other. We soon realised we knew some of the same people, and we chatted about all sorts.
There is nothing pretentious or average about Anthony, and he is well-grounded, has good values and a great sense of humour.
He even does some acting, much like his celebrity doppelganger, though I have to confess I laughed when he revealed his slight frame often sees him typecast as a homeless person or period actor — it turns out very few men of his age can fit in those breeches. His hair colour, too, was a source of amusement as its shade changes depending on the role he’s in at the time.
Like me, he has never been married, but we didn’t delve into past relationships at any great length, and to be honest, I was quite happy to talk about the present and not dwell on ex-flames.
Anthony has a strong character and knows what he wants, but there is a kind and generous side to his personality that shone through, particularly when he told me he donated a kidney to his sister when she was gravely ill.
We spent the evening sharing our family lives (he’s one of seven children), failings and our embarrassing moments, and really did laugh a lot.
We even talked about who we’d leave our money to if we passed away (not in a morbid way) as neither of us have children, and that was very interesting. I didn’t look at my watch until right at the end of the night, and when I did, I couldn’t believe how fast the evening had gone.
Anthony was a gentleman and walked me back to my car, and we both agreed we would keep in touch as it was such a lovely evening.
I have an invite to meet him at a local watering hole very soon, and we said we would do a live band, too — either Pink Floyd or whatever happens to be playing at the time — so I’m looking forward to that. He made me laugh so much. I definitely felt a spark and he’s such fun to be with. I loved this date. LIKED: A great, dry sense of humour, and he is such an interesting guy. REGRETS: Zilcho. COFFEE OR CAB? of course coffee — with a shot of Grand marnier. VERDICT: 9/10
ANTHONY, 59, SAYS:
I HAVEN’T been on a date in more than 25 years so I was pretty terrified before this one. I’ve been engaged twice before, and although I have dated on and off since, my life has been busy and I haven’t been actively looking for someone to be with.
I was early to the restaurant so decided to walk around the area, where I spotted a really attractive
He looks like Bill Nighy and, yes, I definitely felt a spark I haven’t dated in 25 years – and was terrified
woman in a car wearing sunglasses. I wondered if it was my date and rather hoped it was, so when I heard her ask for our table, I was thrilled.
I was probably more awkward than she was, and we had a hug when we met. When we started talking, we didn’t stop: you name it, we talked about it, and really did put the world to rights.
We are very similar in that neither of us has married or had children, so our interests were well matched, and there were lots of other serendipitous moments, from the fact we live a mile apart to our shared love of Fleetwood mac, Genesis and Kate Bush.
We had a few giggles and Fiona likes to high five — I got an especially big one when she asked me what the bravest thing I had ever done was, and I told her I had given a kidney to my sister.
The restaurant was quite noisy, and we found it hard to hear at times, but after our meals we enjoyed more time together over cheese and biscuits, and I introduced her to white port, which she had never had before.
Fiona is intelligent, funny and stylish. I’d like to think there was a spark — it felt like we were in tune. We swapped numbers and will talk when she is back from sailing to arrange something.
We both had early starts the next morning so left at about 11pm, but we could have stayed longer — three hours together isn’t much when there’s so much more to find out about someone.
I walked her back to her car as I’m old-fashioned like that and wanted to make sure she was safe. She introduced me to her car, Yogi the Yaris. That made me laugh. I name my cars, too: mine is Thelma the Fiesta. We had a hug and peck on the cheek, bringing our lovely evening to an end.
In spite of being so scared beforehand, the date turned out well. Fiona admitted she had also had butterflies, and I said I hadn’t slept well the night before.
I would love to see her again and I’m fairly sure we will. From what I know, she has everything you would want in a person.
LIKED: She’s clever, attractive and fun to be with.
REGRETS: Not meeting her ten years ago. COFFEE OR CAB? coffee (but tea for me). VERDICT: 9 ¾/10