21.42 from Platform number 3.
My boyfriend is quite a lot older than me. 16 years, to be precise.

Let's start from the start.
In early 2007, he posted a video on YouTube. It was a reply to the "Pissed Catholic Mother" video (anyone remember that?) and he was basically talking about Atheism and that...
He had a nice face and a nice accent, and I'm not ashamed to say I watched that video a few times. But all he was was a person on the internet. I never once thought about meeting him, he was obviously a lot older and lived on the other side of the country, it was never gonna happen.

I found the link to his blog and kept in touch with him a bit through there and through email. That video he did on YouTube got his blog quite a bit of traffic, and as well as attracting me, it also attracted a lady in America, who our man obviously fell in love with and announced he would be going to meet her over in the States. Yes, I was slightly jealous but like I said, he was a person on the internet and nothing more.

Through his (and her) blog I followed their progress, watching from afar. I looked at the pictures of their visits to the Golden Gate Bridge and other places. I congratulated them when they moved in together in California, and then later when they announced they were getting married. I'd been following their progress and feeling so happy for them, they I accepted their offer to come to their wedding.

Months gone by and for some reason, I emailed him my phone number, I can't remember why. He was feeling troubled about something so I thought he might like to talk, but I never expected anything.
A few weeks passed, and then as I was about to go to bed at around midnight on a weekday, my phone started ringing.
I picked it up and it was him. He was upset and crying. His blog and every other account he had anywhere on the internet had been hacked. Anyway, not to go into too much detail, after a lot of searching he found out it was his future wife. She'd turned out to be a crazy American nutcase and because she had certain links with the government or whatever, she'd typed his name into a database and found lots of internet naughtiness that he'd taken part in, that to us British was nothing worse than they show on a Channel 4 after nine o'clock, but because she was American, to her it was positively hardcore.

At the time I was in a 2 and a half year relationship with somebody, I thought we were happy because I hadn't really had a proper relationship before that, and he made me laugh. But there was other things I wasn't happy about. I'd get angry at him because he wasn't what I wanted him to be. He watched TV too much, and he wasn't aware about important things. He never watched the news, and the only newspaper he read was the Mirror or the Star.
If there was ever any national news, he wouldn't know about it because he was too busy watching I'm A Celebrity.
There was certain things I wanted in a boyfriend, and he didn't have them.

So the internet man became single, and moved back to the UK. To be honest, even though I keep saying that all he was to me was a man on the internet, I actually felt happy that he was single and back home. Even though I was happy for him and the American, from watching the various home movies (not dirty ones) that they posted of their travels, it was plain to see she wasn't right for him. He was a proper Northerner and she couldn't understand his jokes or what he was going on about half the time.

Me and him started emailing more, and I eventually admitted to myself that I had to look into this.
I wasn't happy with my boyfriend, and because he wasn't right for me, i'm ashamed to say i'd been looking elsewhere. I know I shouldn't have and I know it was wrong, but I understand that I did it now not out of spite or malice, but just because I was trying to find some happiness with the right person.

Internet man asked if there would be any chance of me becoming single, and him traveling the 3 hour journey to visit me, just to see how it goes. I decided there was.

A few months later and I was sitting in his local pub, in the north of England. A few pints inside me and I realised, that little list I had previously of all those things I wanted in someone. He had them all. There was nothing I could complain about.

Fast forward to now, seven months and one day after we met. Everything is going perfectly. The distance between us isn't ideal, but i'm getting used to the 5 hour train ride I do on a Friday night. I see the same commuters every week.

His family and friends have been nothing short of amazing when it comes to supporting us. The age difference never crosses our mind, and it actually surprises us when somebody mentions it because we seem to forget it's even there. Things are difficult at the moment because studies and work mean I can't visit him as much as i'd like, and a lack of money means he can't really move down here. Sometimes it feels too difficult to carry on, but then I just think that at sometime in the future when we have a nice little house we'll look back on these times and feel glad that we stuck with it.

It's strange to think that we were both going off in other directions with our lives, but then realised that the things we wanted were right in front of us, we just didn't see it.

Apologies for length and blah blah.

Edit: Just incase you go looking, his original YouTube video is no longer there, the American Psycho deleted it when she messed up his internets.
( Lollylegs lite, Fri 5 Dec 2008, 10:52, 7 replies)

That
is lovely!
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Fri 5 Dec 2008, 11:00, closed)

!
Fanks!

I am quite aware that there could be a few people that will happily use the phrase "internet pervert" to describe the boyfriend (my Dad being one of them).

But yes, he is. Of the best kind. I forgot to mention in the story that another thing on my list was someone that will fling me around and tie me up in the bedroom. I have that now. Woo.
( Lollylegs lite, Fri 5 Dec 2008, 11:03, closed)

Lucky!!
that's what I want! Does he have a brother? ;-)
Lovely story..
(Beer Elf Thought this was like a campfire, anyhow, on, Fri 5 Dec 2008, 12:09, closed)

Awwwww.
I really hope everything works out for you both!
(Swarve, Fri 5 Dec 2008, 12:20, closed)

LL!
Where in the bloody hell have you been?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 5 Dec 2008, 12:53, closed)

Not on /talk for a while
I'll be sure to pop in.
( Lollylegs lite, Fri 5 Dec 2008, 13:01, closed)

Lovely story!
Clicks.
(Half of Stephen Fry's right buttock pissed on your dog on, Fri 5 Dec 2008, 13:01, closed)