Who set me up this time
This date was set up by Rahul#2. He has exactly the same name as Rahul#1 (who set me up for Date 6). I met both Rahuls at university. Rahul#2 was the type of guy who knew everybody’s name. He was exceptionally friendly and a fun person to be around. He is a top bloke and I am glad he managed to set me up on a date.
What do I know about him
Jubilee is from Paris. Rahul#2 met him when they were both working together in a bank. Jubilee still works for this bank. He asked me not to use his real name for my blog (he is not called Jubilee). He was described to me as a nice, friendly guy. He has been living in the UK for a year or so and his English is really good but not perfect.
First impressions
On the journey to meet Jubilee I had a weird tube incident. I am sure many women and possibly a lot of guys know that you can have some very strange unwanted encounters on the London underground. In London we have a social custom where unless it is to say 'excuse me please', you must not talk to anyone you don’t know or even look them in the eye on the tube. You are supposed to travel the tube in silence in your own little bubble. However, some strange individuals who I imagine are starved of social and physical contact will try and interact with you. In my personal experience this includes accidently on purposely groping you, singing 'flying without wings' in your face, gyrating against you, and breathing heavily in your face. On the journey to meet Jubilee a Romanian man decided to take photos of me with his camera phone. I tried to ignore him but someone else didn’t. A woman yelled at me, "tell him to stop!" A man shouted out "stop taking photos of her mate. You can see she doesn’t like it." To which the Romanian man responded, ‘I’m taking photos of myself. To see how ugly I am." The man with the camera phone got closer and closer until he was touching me. As another man grabbed him off me I ran off the carriage to meet Jubilee in Covent Garden
I greeted jubilee by saying, “Hi, It’s nice to meet you. I’ve just been harassed by a man on the tube and I feel really grossed out!” Jubilee was not expecting this. He gave me the impression that he is a shy character who found my introduction a bit weird.
What Happened
Another man playing the culture card! Mauritian-French man Jubilee invited me to eat some French cakes and tea. The cakes were tasty. We spoke about how Jubilee feels about London as a foreigner/migrant. He said that coming to live here in the UK has been a great cultural experience for him. He said that he likes the social life of the city and is not sure if he will move back to Paris. Jubilee has a “foreign” way of expressing himself sometimes. There were occasions when I was not entirely sure what he meant. It was like he was translating a French phrase into English that didn’t quite fit. I enjoyed this as it made a change from the cliche date conversations. I also discovered that the French accent is pretty hot sometimes. I love the way he pronounced “the Jubilee line”. I loved it so much that that's how I chose his nickname.
Amusingly, I misheard Jubilee for the worst a couple of times. For example, when discussing whether he would like to work from home or not he said that ‘human contact is obviously very important and I like getting that from the office’. In my ears this sounded a lot like ‘women contact is obviously very important and I like getting that from the office’ Luckily I questioned him!
We went for a drink after the French cakes. My impression of Jubilee at this point was that he was very sweet, had a cute accent and was quite a serious personality. He came across as the type of person who likes to follow the rules! This made me think that he was not compatible with me as I think that I am a little too scandalous for him. However, he is sweet, intelligent, stable and funny and over drinks I started wishing that I could set him up with my French friend Lauren. This bright idea slowly faded away as when I ordered a cocktail Jubilee admitted that he does not really drink alcohol. Jubilee ordered a martini and I laugingly warned him that it would come in a very girly glass. I dont think he minded too much but he did seem a tiny bit embarrassed.
The girl I would have set Jubilee up with drinks a sweet amount of alcohol and although she has never said this herself, I think that she’d be better off with someone less controlled than Jubilee. Towards the end of the evening I started to think that Jubilee is a very good boy! This made me want to press him a little (that means question, not anything crude). So I asked him about his drug habits and got him to rate cocaine, caffeine, alcohol, cannabis and ecstasy in order of preference. By the way, I don’t dabble in illegal substances either but I just thought it would be funny to ask! Caffeine won. He doesn't do anything else and good for him.
Jubilee text me to see that I got home safely which was gentlemanly as I have a long dark journey home.
Would I go out with him again?
A few weeks after our date and after a bit of to and forth, I emailed Jubilee “In short summary, after our date I decided that you seemed a very nice and cultured person. But we are two different characters! You seem to be less of a joker than me. And I did not see us as compatible. I assume you felt the same way. But it was still great to meet you and thanks for the cake! Let me know if you would like to see the blog once it is up”. He responded that he actually is a joker but understands why he didn’t give that impression on our date.
He also wanted me to include what he concluded about me:
“Finally, if you want to know what I think about you, i will say cool. And I got the feeling that you are a bit crazy but don't get me wrong it's totally positive, like in a funny way. I would say brave, responsible, trying to make things better if they are wrong, I guess you have a bit of craziness (like having fun), and also very nice.”
I wonder if I gave him the impression that I’m a druggie? Jubilee invited me to a party near French friend Lauren’s house and I would have considered going but I wasnt in town. I’d see him again in a group, as friends! It would be interesting to see if he really is as composed as I thought!
What do other people say?
They want to hear him say Jubilee.
Would I recommend him to a friend?
Yes
Date Planning 6 (we wandered to find a bar)
Rapport 7
Sweetness 9
This was date 13 in my dating marathon. Click the links below to read about my other dates.
This was date 13 in my dating marathon. Click the links below to read about my other dates.
Date 1: A – Full frontal nudity
Date 2: Seb – A man in tights
Date 3: Alan - the softy
Date 4: Christian – Hot Trinidadian
Date 5: Darren – Too into his ex
Date 6: Charles – Trainwreck part I
Date 6.5 Charles – part II Wait a minute Kelyn, What are you doing?
Date 7: Nick the Greek
Date 8: Brett – Poptart
Date 9: Mark – Bowling and Politics
Date 10: Martin – FAIL
Martin’s Perspective
Date 11: Daniel – DILF
Date 12: Crow – Chronic Bail
Date 13: Jubilee –French Accent
Date 14: Dan – A Black man in Waitrose?
Date 15: James – Relationships are like Laptops
Date 16: Cooper – The Booty Call
Date 17: Brendan – When a man Out-dresses You
Date18: Sam – The Reluctant Dragon
Date 19: Ami – My Lesbian One Night Stand
Date 20: Devontay – If I were a few years younger...
Date 2: Seb – A man in tights
Date 3: Alan - the softy
Date 4: Christian – Hot Trinidadian
Date 5: Darren – Too into his ex
Date 6: Charles – Trainwreck part I
Date 6.5 Charles – part II Wait a minute Kelyn, What are you doing?
Date 7: Nick the Greek
Date 8: Brett – Poptart
Date 9: Mark – Bowling and Politics
Date 10: Martin – FAIL
Martin’s Perspective
Date 11: Daniel – DILF
Date 12: Crow – Chronic Bail
Date 13: Jubilee –French Accent
Date 14: Dan – A Black man in Waitrose?
Date 15: James – Relationships are like Laptops
Date 16: Cooper – The Booty Call
Date 17: Brendan – When a man Out-dresses You
Date18: Sam – The Reluctant Dragon
Date 19: Ami – My Lesbian One Night Stand
Date 20: Devontay – If I were a few years younger...
