How to kill a ghost

Have sex with someone.

That is the short answer. Now for the long answer. First, lets create the ghost...

Many moons ago (at least six. Months that is) I met someone in a nightclub. Someone pretty damned gorgeous. And a doctor. Yes, lots of people (well, at least two) commented about a doctor and a solicitor getting together. But we did at least try. I made a very hearty effort: I booked a Friday morning off work, trekked over to Birmingham on the Thursday night from work so we could have a meal. It didn't quite go as planned: we were both a bit tired, and it wasn't as easy to find the place so we ended up just having pizza and then sex. Actually, sex and then pizza and then sex and then sleeping and then sex.

But, despite us being tired, we got on phenomenally well. We may have been tired, but we were cuddley and giggley. We laughed more than I may have ever laughed before on a date.

And then he went away.

Skiing in France. And we carried on texting but never quite got around to another date. Which was disappointing, and made all the more so by getting the text saying it just wasn't going to work out on February 13th, the day before Valentines's day. So I was single, yet again, for Valentine's day. Awesome. Anyway, I moved on: he may have been the dishy doctor David, but he wasn't mine.

And I never saw him again...

Well, until Friday.

I have been to Manchester Pride every year for around the last decade. This year I took the Friday afternoon off work to travel. I don't usually, normally I go straight from work, snack on the train and go straight out when I get to Manchester around 8. But it is a wee bit tricky drinking and maybe even clubbing with your weekend bag, and we had been given a 'summer early finish' at work. It's basically the afternoon off even if it rains. Nice in theory, but when you have to maintain a proper service with a small team, it isn't very practical. But it was a very quiet day and the team could cope without me so I left early.

Yes, it's a lot of detail to go into in order to explain why I got that particular train. But, I was on the Birmingham to Manchester train. And so was he. Unfortunately all I could grab was a couole of brief glimpses as we got on and off the train: reservations and getting stuck in my seat because a fat man wedge himself in next to me meant I couldn't have a wander to find him.

And so it was there was the ghost. Set as a seed in my brain, there to affect all of my pride weekend. Like a block of ice around my penis, I wouldn't be getting any bonkybonk until I could get rid of the ghost.

So, how do you do that? Get drunk enough and sleep with anything.

That makes it sound very base, and degrades who I did the bonking with. He was actually very very cute, right up my street...well, if he didn't live on the other side of the country. He was seriously good-looking, nice hairy chest and intelligent: practically unflawed, except for a surname which was practically unpronouncable. Anyhow, that was it, tap unblocked, ghost burnt. I would not spend all weekend thinking of the dishy doctor.

And a good bit of bonking along the way.