I met a guy recently and he is pretty damn awesome so I’m going to put it down to being out of practise and having a few nerves . . . it takes me back to high school where I just couldn’t get the racquet and ball to connect . . . I had a good swing but I couldn’t get the connection right. (Side note: In later columns, I may refer to a ‘racquet and balls’ in a different manner.)

We spend a lot of time chatting on the phone and I have no problem there, all is fine but when it comes to meeting face to face I have this wave of nervy clumsiness come over me which is why this guy is different to the others because this isn’t a common side effect for me.

We had planned to meet at his apartment and go in the one car to a café, he gave me instructions and said to find the visitor carpark when I got to the top. Oh god I’m still cringing when I think about what happened next . . . . I think I cringe more when I think about how much he was cringing.

So, I got to the top and couldn’t see a park I looked further up and saw a car driving out of a second carpark so I thought I’d go up there and try my luck.

I let the van pass through and then immediately drove through to this carpark  . . . BANG . . .

Turns out the carpark had a Boom Gate . . . A Boom Gate that I just drove straight through. OMG. Instant embarrassment and my first reaction wasn’t to check the car to access the damage it was to look around to make sure he didn’t see it happen . . . I look behind me through the back and I can’t see him, through the left and front window phew can’t see him . . .  KNOCK KNOCK . . . FML he is standing at my driver’s door shaking his head in disbelief. I laugh a lot. He does not.

Now is that a warning sign that this isn’t going to work because he didn’t laugh as hysterically as I did? Surely that’s going to be one of those memorable moments down the track? . . . ‘Hey babe, remember that time I drove through your Boom Gate on our first date how funny was that?’ and he be like ‘Remember that time I didn’t go through your “Boom Gate” because we didn’t make it to our second date’  . . . time will tell how this pans out but until then I’ll keep being the imperfect, passionate and nervy clumsy person that I am.

If you embarrass yourself on a date just stay true to yourself . . . laugh that shit off and own it.