I reckon I'm quite a good kisser...
Long time lurker, first time poster.

Once upon a time I was a bit keen on this girl and asked her out on a first date. She demurely agreed and then asked the dread question of "Where to?".

Now at that point I wasn't earning a lot thus the posh eateries were out so I decided to come over all romantic (and cheap) and went for a Picnic in Hyde Park. It was Summer, nice temperatures, Sun beating through the London Haze...

So a rucksack with some red wine, cheese and other veggie things for her (should have been my first warning about the girl actually - but that's another story) was packed and we set off hand in hand after work(since we worked in the same building - second warning sign). We tubed to Notting Hill gate, dallied along to the entrance, entered the rather crowded park and looked for a semi-secluded place to set down and enjoy ourselves.

Now in Hyde Park there are various stretches of long grass which tends to put off the families and those trying to play football so that seemed like a good bet. Sure enough a nice shady tree and good place for a picnic is found after having gingerly worked our way past various other necking couples lying in the long grass. We have a bit of the red wine and hummus, a light bit of romantic banter and then lean in together for a looooong kiss. Those kisses, that you generally only do at the beginning of relationships, that take about half an hour and are unhurried but you put your full attention into.

In between some nice sensual closed-eye kisses the general park life continues on at a discrete distance, people wandering past, other groups of people out enjoying the sun, the drone of insects and the distant sounds of the city traffic. Other groups come and go and we're almost walked over by a guy before he notices us in the long grass and changes track. Long languid minutes go by.

Then a couple of policemen wander over and start taping off a big square of park. With us inside it. Wuhuh?

A tall copper strides up and asks if we heard the attack.

We are blinking like moles in the sunlight and expressing general ignorance and he says in disbelief that a man has been stabbed here in the last twenty minutes - are we sure we didn't notice *anything*?

A female cop now comes over and is a bit more forthcoming with information about what's happened.

A group of about four Russian men had been about 30 ft away from us under their own tree, drinking, talking and drinking some more. I had indeed seen them as part of the surrounding scenery. Some (quiet) argument had broken out and so one of the men had stabbed another about three times. However they had then all made friends again, stood up drunkenly and headed off home together helping to keep each other up. Apart from one guy who had said his goodbyes and headed off for the further park gate and had in fact been the one who had almost walked over past us earlier. However the one who had been stabbed had almost made it to the park gate before collapsing due to blood loss while the others had then tried to get an ambulance.

In the end the police just let us pick up our stuff and head off under the police tape but seemed astonished that we could have been 30 ft from a murder but not notice because we were too busy snogging.

Now *that's* a romantic first date!
(loki23, Wed 20 Feb 2008, 10:40, 1 reply)

That melted my flint-like heart
A picnic? An afternoon spent kissing in the park? Stabby goings on? Blood loss? That's so romantic! (No really, it is. Probably more so without the attempted murder.)
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Wed 20 Feb 2008, 11:04, closed)