An enjoyable evening with another Gay Banker

Monty hadn't yet come out as gay the last time I visited Sydney, Australia. But with one year as an out gay man now under his belt, we took the opportunity to catch up with each other recently on a spare evening during his current visit to London.

Since we both work for banks, we decide to meet in The Counting House, a pub which used to be a bank in the City of London. I arrive first so I grab a stool near the entrance, and before too long Monty arrives and starts to look round for me. I stand up and beckon him over to where I'm sitting.

"So would you like a pint of traditional 'warm' English beer," I joke with him, "the good thing about this pub is that they serve Fuller's London Pride :-)."

"I haven't had much English beer, but I'm happy to try some as long as it's not TOO warm!" replies Monty , settling down onto the adjacent stool.

"It'll be cellar temperature, which should be fine :-). Some foreigners joke about English beer being too warm, but the truth is that it's just not as cold as the ice-chilled lager that some guys are used to."

It doesn't take long to get served and soon we're drinking our pints, chatting about London, and talking about what he's been up to since he arrived last week.

"Actually, we better be off soon," I say to him after about twenty minutes, "otherwise we'll be late for the restaurant!"

I'd made a reservation in a good riverside restaurant, and although it wouldn't matter if we were slightly late, I always feel more comfortable if I'm on time. And although the taxi that I'd booked to take us there was a bit late, half an hour later we're admiring the view of St Paul's that we've got from the table we've been given.

"I presume you'll have a glass of wine or two?" I ask him. Talking to an Australian guy, I know that it's almost a rhetorical question.

"Yes a glass :-)," grins Monty , "or two ... !"

I order a bottle of 2002 grand cru Chablis for white and some 1999 Chambertin Clos de Beze for red, and soon I'm learning about some of the Australian bloggers who've left occasional comments on my blog.

"There weren't that many guys at the Sydney bloggers meet in February," Monty tells me, "but there were over 20 guys at the last one in July!"

As the evening progresses we gradually learn more and more about each other, and as the wine flows, the conversation slowly moves onto more interesting subjects.

"One of the nice things about being gay is the way that some single gay guys have casual activities with their gay friends," says Monty , "I mean, some of your friends fall into that category don't they?"

"Well I guess so. Although with me, I usually meet a guy for fun first, and then sometimes we become friends after that. My gorgeous Japanese masseur is probably in that category :-)."

"Yeah," replies Monty , "there's just no equivalent in the straight world is there :-)".

All too soon it's time to order dessert, and we suddenly realise that we've finished BOTH bottles of wine!

"Well we could order another bottle?" I say to Monty grinning mischievously, "I'm sure we could find something on the wine list that's worth our attention!"

The sommelier talks us into a bottle of South African chardonnay, and we carry on chatting. The wine turns out to be rather average, but at this stage of the evening, it doesn't seem important.

"So I read in your blog that your parents haven't spoken to you since you came out to them," I say to Monty, "that sounds terrible!"

"Yeah," replies Monty looking sad now, "and I do miss my mum and dad :-(".

Although it's a crowded restaurant, I suddenly feel very sad too and I reach out to him across the table. He reaches across to me and holds my hand. That's another nice thing about being gay, I think to myself, gay guys aren't afraid of showing their feelings.

Eventually it's time to go, so I get the restaurant to order a couple of taxis for us. It takes the taxis a while to arrive, but eventually we're making our way outside and it's time to say goodbye.

"Well it's been great meeting you Monty ," I say to him as we're standing next to our taxis, and I lean forward and give him a quick kiss on his lips. But after the emotion of some of the things that we've been talking about, and having been holding hands with him in the restaurant, and with too much wine inside me, for a couple of seconds I kind of forget to stop kissing him! Then, I suddenly remember my policy on meeting guys who know that I'm GB.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," I apologise, "and completely outside my policy too, I'm so sorry!"

"Oh damm your policy," laughs Monty , and inside I'm thinking the same!

We get into our separate taxis, and on the way back to boyfriend number 1, I get a txt msg from Monty thanking me for a pleasant evening [which he also confirms a couple of days later in one of his posts about his holiday]. I've really enjoyed meeting him too, so I send a quick reciprocal message in response.

It was Groucho Marx who said something like "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members". Which is why I need to keep meetings with people who know I'm GB at a purely social level. People who know I'm GB have read my blog, so they know exactly how badly I can behave. If what they know doesn't concern them, then how on earth can I trust their judgement!