Mary

Unable to pluck up the courage to ask one of the staff in an Indian take-away, I resorted to texting a friend who put me on the phone to his boyfriend's flat-mate.  She sounded mildly weary but amenable.  We discussed the difficulty of the task.  She expressed amused concern that I should be saying such things only six days in.  I asked if she could suggest any tactics.  She thought that it might help to reveal my own middle name but when I told her what it was she changed her mind.  She said it would be easier if it was something boring like Richard before remembering that was my name.  I said I didn't mind (I have been used to the idea that people might not like my name since my cousin said as much by a lake in the south of France at the age of 12) and it is going rapidly out of fashion anyway.  She said that her middle name was too.  I went on to discover that she was brought up near to where my Dad's family have a house in Wales, she is a team-leading gardener and she is a good Catholic girl.  We wished one another a happy new year and left each other to our respective Friday nights.