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It's been an amazing three
years with Jezz so far. Jezz has the kindest heart of all
time in my lifetime. I've never experienced a person like him.
He provides all of the support for my ill health and has a level of care
that makes him a very special person.
 Within minutes of anyone
meeting Jezz, most people see the sincerity of the love he has for me.
He is totally dedicated and is quite possibly the best thing that has ever
happened to me.
Jezz and I met around midday of
Monday 6 November 2000 at the bar of Legends bar, Marine Parade, Brighton.
Legends is the all day and night bar of the hotel where we were both
staying, The New Europe Hotel. Paul was with me and we both watched Jezz
arrive in the reception area with an entire suite of travel luggage, the
sort you used to see on the conveyer belt of The Generation Game!
After a couple of drinks, I
suggested to Jezz that he join us going to a sauna just down the road, in
the back of the hotel, The Amsterdam. He did and he quickly became a
holiday companion. After Paul went back to Croydon, the rest of the
week was spent with Jezz and I going everywhere together. We shopped
everyday and ate out together every evening.
I left Jezz on the Thursday as
my week was up and his was a few days after. But we
stayed in touch on the phone and after Jezz had gone back home, it wasn't
long before he was arranging to come and stay with me.
I knew about Jezz's kindness
and support for me by his fourth visit. I'd explained I wasn't feeling
at all well and he took time off from work and came down on the train from
Milton Keynes, and then the underground and bus to my place to look after
me. It was on 2nd January 2001 and then again on 29 January 2001.
Jezz seemed keen on the idea of
my meeting his friends as soon as possible and Tracy McIntyre was the most
memorable. Jezz had come down to London on another occasion and was with Tracy
and Sam. I quickly learned that Tracy was a complete scream and a totally up
for anything wild and wacky. It was decided that Jezz and I, Tracy and
Sam would all go out in Tracy's four wheel drive car. We all thought
it would be funny to play practical jokes on unsuspected pedestrians. A
couple of our more memorable ones were asking a young teenage couple the way
in to Stanley Road without turning right because we were having trouble with
the steering column. Another was asking two (obviously straight) guys to pose
for Sam's new camera, by holding hands, then cuddling, and then kissing (but
they wouldn't do the kissing bit)... or the dear old lady who had to be
witness to Tracy and my final falling out, complete with extreme obscenity
and me jumping out of the car, and never wanting to see my vile wife, Tracy
ever again! Hahaha! At one point Tracy said to the lady, "please call him,
he wont listen to me" and I could behind me, the faint sound of this little
old lady's voice: "Laddie, laddie, come back dear... she wants to make up
with you!" HAHAHA! Tracy McIntyre's acting ability is nothing to be sniffed
at. She was amazing and kept a straight face up to the point of pulling
away.
I met up with Tracy again when
Jezz invited me to stay with him at Milton Keynes and I met her Mum,
Mother... too!
On Saturday 2nd February 2001,
Jezz moved from Milton Keynes to a house in Purley because of a job offer to
co-manage a pub in Croydon.
Tracy was to be the butch 'white van man' and drove Jezz and his belongings
down to South London.
The next few months were spent
entirely with Jezz. We went out for meals including The Blue Anchor,
Tadworth and The Gypsy Moth, Croydon and to my friends including Sarah
Williams. I introduced him to friends and family and he introduced me
to Sam, and his bosses. We bought items that were "setting up home"
together including Biscuit barrel, bread bin, storage jars and chrome
shelving. We met Timmy (John) and Paul Flowers together. And in
May 2001, Jezz and I went back to his old home in Milton Keynes to collect
some more stuff. He lived with his ex, Ted. On
Thursday 24 May 2001, Jezz and I went to Beddington Park for the day and
with Lee Walsh. We spent the day together and had a really good time.
On 31 May 2001, we went to the Harvester restaurant in Surbiton with Pete
for a meal.
By mid April, Jezz gave up his
job at the pub to look after me full-time. I was working temporarily
with Brian and Vicky at a local limousine firm and on 4 June 2001, Jezz came
with me for the day to be a minder for one their regular clients, Eileen.
This was to be the first of many of trips together.
Back to buying items for a new
home (that wasn't on the horizon at the time), Jezz and I decided to buy a
new fridge/freezer during a shopping trip in Croydon one Sunday afternoon.
More dining out with others
included a meal at the Blue Anchor, Tadworth again, this time with Paul and
Pete and on another occasion, with Vicki, and another occasion with Graham
Mitchel from Edinburgh. We went for a drink at the Woodman in Woodmansterne
with Lee. I introduced Jezz to old friends Sarah and Karen at a party
of theirs in July and he'd already met my daughter Kelly.
Spent the day alone together on
Sunday 5 August 2001 in Earls Court for breakfast. We went to Jim and
Helen's wedding and reception on 11 August in Uxbridge.
On Saturday 25 September 2001,
one of more special days together was spent being chauffeur driven in a
Rolls Royce stretched Silver Spur limousine by Peter Taylor to The Royal
Albert Hall in Kensington, London to see Victoria Wood in concert.
Jezz had paid for the tickets and the limo and I bought him a bottle of
Bollinger R.D. champagne. This proved to be an extremely important day
in our lives because of how much it meant to our relationship.
 Another
important evening was the night out on Friday 9 November 2001 with my sister
Nikki, mates Fran and Laurie and Paul. It was Jezz's 30th birthday and
our mate Jim, who ran his own limo firm arranged a fabulous rate for us all
to have a five hour drive around London town, getting very drunk and
stopping off at various gay venues on the way in to Central London.
On 17 November, Jezz, Lee and I
did a disco in Purley for Sarah Williams' eldest son, Alex. On 18 Nov,
Jezz and I went to The Richmond Arms together.
We opened the bottle of
Bollinger together on 31 December 2001 to see 2002 in together.
On 13 February 2002, Jezz and I
were with my family for Charlie and Zoe's birthday at the Out and Out
restaurant in Tadworth. And then again at the Harvester, Sutton with Nikki
for her birthday, and Lawrence, Barbara, Ron and Dad and Michιle.
On 1 April 2002, Jezz and I
make the most important decision of our relationship, to date; we move out
from Pete and Paul, and in to a two bedroom ground floor flat in Wallington.
June and July of 2002 saw more
outings out together and meals at friends, including Mark Croucher's in
Croydon, and trolling together at Shirley Hills with Lee.
Disaster holiday time on 16
August back at the hotel in Brighton, Jezz becomes ill and we had to come
back home 2 days in to the break away. He was so ill, he was admitted
in St. Helier Hospital for 7 days with cryptosporidium.
We'd both stopped working at
the limo place and I'd started a volunteer position working with Maria and
Annie in a kitchen within SCILL, Sutton. It's a centre for people with
disability and learning difficulties and by September 2002, Jezz was with
me, only helping out in the gym with Norma.
11 October 2002, we celebrated
Kenneth's birthday with Gavin, at a Chinese restaurant in Crouch End, North
London.
On 12 October. we went to
Claire's in South Croydon for Sunday lunch with Vicki and Sam and the day
after at Mark's to meet Phil. We got quite into board games for a
while and went shopping to buy some.
For Jezz's 31st, I bought him a
tropical fish tank and we spent the days few weeks, filling it with tropical
fish. But, slowly they all died.
Another night and meal out, at
Maria's in December and we also went to Kingston Hospital to visit Paul.
On 19 December, Jezz and I got
up at 3am and took Maria took Heathrow Airport. I took Jezz out on 22
December 2002 for a meal at the Harvester restaurant in Worcester Park.
On 7 January 2003, we went for
lunch at the Gypsy Moth, Croydon with Vicki to meet her mate Andy and at the
end of the month, Tony, Jezz and I went to Wigmore Street, London, W1 and
earned a few quid for carrying out a survey. In February, we'd been
out to a sauna together again, this time at Chariot's in Streatham.
Also, took Jezz to Bar 68, Thornton Heath for the first time. We went
again in March with Maria and I got very drunk. Went there once again at the
end of the month for a Sunday barbeque. On 17 March, Jeff took Jezz, Pete
and me to the Woodman, Woodmansterne. On 20 March, Jezz took me and
Lee to Shirley Hills for a photo shoot. Also, went to Lee's for breakfast
one Thursday morning.
 Another important date was on
Saturday 7 June 2003, I drove Jezz to Harlow, Essex to meet his brother,
Elliott, and sister Hayley for the first time in nine years.
And another memorable date was
Wednesday 6 August 2003 when Jezz and I went to Rustington, West Sussex for
the day. It was a really lovely day, weather wise too and we spent the
day in the village of Rustington, trolling the second hand shops and getting
bargains, i.e. limited edition Diesel jeans for £1... hahaha!
2 October 2003, Jezz and I went
out with Norma and Maria but also Noel, my ex, for the first time ever and
then the following week, to the Goose and Carrot with Noel for karaoke.
Also, in October, went to the Two Brewers, Clapham with Vicki and a few of
her mates to see the act, Pam Ann. Several more evenings at the Goose with
Noel and Stuart, and on Saturday 25th, went with Jezz to the Goose with
Tony, Phil and Karl.
In November, Noel and Mark
invited us round for a Christmas dinner. Noel's best mate, Rick and
his boyfriend Chris were there also.
December saw us driving back to
Harlow to stay with his Mum and Hayley for 3 days, after Christmas.
 But it's the start of 2004 that
has left the biggest impression of just how serious our love for one another
has become. Jezz lit 18 tea-lights in an heart shape on the dining
room table and placed two chilled flutes of champagne in the middle.
He then dressed in a suit with shirt and tie and wished me a Happy New Year.
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