Forrest

During my various appointments with Jasmin, we discovered a mutual passion for classical music, amongst other things. At some stage, I mentioned that, while I had seen opera on TV, I had never been to one, and asked Jasmin if she would be interested in going to one with me. She was very happy to accept my invitation, so a table was booked in the Terrace Café in the National Concert Hall, in advance of the performance of La Traviatta, on a Sunday evening in October.

Jasmin had told me that formal dress was required to be worn for such events, but I was a bit wary that she might be trying to set me up, so I rang the Concert Hall and found out that my South American princess was indeed winding me up!!! Smart casual was the order of the day, but I immediately regretted that decision when I picked Jasmin up from her apartment. She was a stunning vision of beauty in a classy black dress that clung to her adorable body, that made me feel like a degenerate beside her.

I had remembered a thread from the previous October, just after I first met Jasmin, wishing her a Happy Birthday, so I went back through all the threads to find out the exact date. It was going to be a week after our trip to the opera so, as I was going to be away, I brought Jasmin a birthday gift. The lovely lady was so surprised that I knew it was her birthday, and was equally amazed that I had bothered to trawl through old threads to check it out. She showed her gratitude with the longest hug and kiss imaginable, that could have resulted in us foregoing our dinner plans.

A lovely meal and the company of an elegant companion was a nice, relaxing, prelude to me losing my opera virginity. Front row seats, right behind two gorgeous female violinists in the Orchestra, meant we couldn’t get much closer to the action, without actually participating. It was a strange, but enjoyable experience, especially as there were no subtitle screens to translate the words of the songs being performed in Italian. Thankfully, Jasmin had seen it before and was able to give me the general gist of what was going on in each act. God Bless an educated and classy lady!!!

Afterward, Jasmin invited me back to her apartment for coffee where we engaged in more intelligent conversation and some very funny moments, recreating scenes from the opera.

The next day I got a message from Jasmin thanking me for a night of ‘Pretty Woman’ which puzzled me, until Jasmin explained that Julia Robert’s character in the movie played the part of an escort who accompanied a successful business man to an opera, La Traviatta. Another happy ending!!!