Keeping track of changing social mores
I was in a train yesterday. A couple of women were talking. They were talking very loudly, oblivious to people around them. I was sitting two seats behind them and could hear the conversation clearly. I had no alternative. They obviously knew each other but had not met for a while and were catching up with each other’s lives.
Well, I was not really listening, but it was when I heard the exchange…
WOMAN ONE
So what have you been doing?
WOMAN TWO
I went to a BDSM workshop and I quite liked it.
WOMAN ONE
Oh
…that I started paying attention… and I switched on the microphone of my iPhone a few sentences later.
Yes, that is very reprehensible of me. What can I say?
What follows is a verbatim transcript. All I have done is remove a few details which might identify the two women – names and places.
NB… The end is 100% exactly as it happened.
WOMAN ONE
I would like to marry him if I was to have a husband but I don’t think he wants to marry me. I got to the point where I realised OK, I’ve had my joy with this and it’s really not working for him but I do want to be with him so I got a lot of what I needed and now I’m back to monogamy. I don’t know if that’s what I want full stop. It’s just that’s what works for us at the moment. And he is dating someone, which is great.
It gets him out of the house – otherwise he’s always round the house in an armchair playing a Star Trek computer game. So it’s quite nice when he goes out.
Like he went out with this woman. He likes her and she likes him, you know. He went out with her the other weekend. I had the whole house to myself all day.
WOMAN TWO
Oh nice.
WOMAN ONE
I watched ukulele players. There’s a really great ukulele player. She sings songs. There’s a song she sings called I Want To Get Laid. She’s a comedian. I think she’s really funny. She’s really great and she interviews really well. And I watched other stuff on YouTube.
The thing is, when he is in, he doesn’t even think what channel I wanna watch. He will just sit there and be in his own little world with his gadgets.
WOMAN TWO
Oh, right.
WOMAN ONE
So it’s really nice when he’s out of the house, so I’m all for it and whoever he wants to go out of the house with is fine.
WOMAN TWO
That gives you some freedom and space.
WOMAN ONE
Yeah and then, when he got back, I was like: “I’ve got a question in mind. Do you mind if I ask you?” – “Yeah, what is it?” – “What happened? Did you get laid?”
He said: “Where’d that come from?”
I said: “Well, it’s kinda come from a song I watched on the ukulele.”
He said he hadn’t got laid. He’d gone to the cinema and I said – she lives in a house share – “You do know you could have taken her to a hotel?”
I just want him to have a good time, really. Despite the fact he and I drive each other up the wall, there is so much strength to it and it has survived so long… I just want him to have a good time.
(WE THEN PASSED ANOTHER TRAIN AND THE NOISE MAKES THE RECORDING INAUDIBLE. IT PICKS UP AGAIN WITH…)
WOMAN ONE
So when did this happen? There’s some really beautiful… I’ve never been into latex…
I am thinking about getting some kind of gloves so I can wash my hands without water touching my hands. Just for the winter; my hands are cracking everywhere. So you went to a workshop?
WOMAN TWO
Yeah. I absolutely loved it. It’s so beautiful. Explaining how you’re giving away the power.
WOMAN ONE
Where did he do the workshop?
WOMAN TWO
At his home just outside London, so it was very intimate. About twelve of us.
WOMAN ONE
A small group.
WOMAN TWO
Yeah. It was nice. I quite liked that.
(THE TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT THEN SAID WE WERE APPROACHING THE NEXT STATION)
WOMAN ONE
Let’s have a drink. Why don’t we have a drink? Are you part-time?
WOMAN TWO
Cool.
WOMAN ONE
OK. Good.
WOMAN TWO
It’s a new way to carry my bicycle.
TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT
If you see something that doesn’t look right, speak to staff or text British Transport Police on 61016. We’ll sort it… See it. Say it. Sort it.
I PRESUME THIS IS THE YOUTUBE SONG WHICH THE FIRST WOMAN CALLED “I WANT TO GET LAID”…
SO IT GOES - John Fleming's blog 