Duty Free

Early October 2007. The setting: a south end Tim Horton's. The characters: Leah, Flag Girl, and Flag Girl's pal, V. A little bit of girl gripes before a little birthday dance-a-thon for darling Flag Girl. (The following may not be word for word but the sentiment is quite vivid in my memory.)

...I don't know what it was. I was not interested in the guy, he was probably not interested in me either, but he treated me with a great deal of respect. A girl who just came in to line up like all the rest just so she could get her caffeine fix. From his accent it was fairly apparent he was not from around here...and yet he had more charm and was more of a gentleman than any homegrown guys I have ever met.

Mm hmm, I absolutely know what you are talking about. It is embarassing to think that our own local guys were not raised properly by their mothers. I am sure it is not the case at all, but they certainly do behave that way at times.

Yes! As if they have some sort of arrested development at our age. It is as if they were not taught some certain level of...

...social skills.

Thank you! That is the perfect word for it! Our men lack social skills that we should be accustomed to at our age.

/scene

Imagine my surprise when I came across this article in a recent edition of our Calgary Herald.

Just like that night spent at one of our friendly Tim Horton's I found myself nodding in agreement with a lot of what these women had to say. In fact I wish I had been given the opportunity to add my two cents during their interview. I am sure we would have all had a lot in common to talk about.

But moving away just to find a great guy?! I have not reached the end of THAT rope quite yet. Do not get me wrong; I think these women are really bold and they are definitely on to something...and who would ever complain about falling in love in New York City (CERTAINLY not I!!!) but I myself am just not there yet. Not yet.

I know there are decent, wonderful guys in my city. They are just few and far between.

The past few dates (or non-dates, as the case may be) have all been duds. I even entertained the idea of dating an older Yellow Fever man with an extreme obsession and focus on getting himself into a committed relationship. RED FLAG RED FLAG SIRENS BLAZING RUN FOR COVER! You do not even want to know how this guy broke off the date...but let it be known that this man is almost 10 years my senior and his break-off M.O. was textbook junior high school. Yeah, I was a tad pissed...but it was my own fault for lowering my standards for a second and contemplating a guy who was absolutely not my style. At least disaster was averted, no?

In a young city of a million there could even be transplants to my hometown; up those odds. Transplants could be the equivalent of an import -- keeping with the spirit of the Herald article -- and everyone knows imports can be quite snazzy and fun.

What else can a girl do but keep her head up and just keep on doing her thing with confidence? Nothing wrong with that. And to a guy who can actually step up and approach her could go all the spoils. Well, maybe not ALL of them.

But if it ever came to that point where I had to look abroad...well, I'm a natural-born cross-border shopper.