Tales from the building sites....

Partner is not naturally sympathetic. So it is ironic that other men often pour out their sob stories to him.

When we first met, he was working on a dockyard with lots of other men in their twenties. Inevitably the conversation would get round to moans about their girlfriends. Usually the same one. They weren't getting enough sex from their girlfriends. I never did find out what "enough" sex was. Presumably more than they were having at the time. Partner's careful and considered advice was invariably "Get rid of 'em."

I tended to agree with him. After all, what is the point of having a girl/boyfriend and not having much/any sex? Although, as the years have moved on, I have realised that there are often valid reasons. Stress is often the big culprit, either due to personal and domestic issues, or work-related problems. Or maybe people are suffering from physical ill-health. So I'm a bit more thoughtful these days.

Story 1

Last week one of the joiners was telling everyone about his girlfriend. She's Dutch, and he had met her when he was working in Amsterdam. She'd made a surprise trip down to Gibraltar and had been staying with him for about ten days. In all this time the joiner had only had sex twice. The other men on the site looked at him dubiously.

He was taking her back to the airport the following morning. Although the girlfriend had managed to get the bus from the airport down to his flat, it seemed she couldn't work out how to get back on her own. So the joiner was having to take most of the day off work and lose money to take her back to the airport. That's 20 euros in motorway tolls, whatever the petrol cost was, and lost wages of around £60. The bus fare is less than ten euros from where he lives.

Oh and when he goes to stay with her, he has to book into a hotel, because "she likes her own space."

He turned up at work after he had taken the girlfriend to the airport. He had a big smile on his face. "I got sex twice last night."

Partner and the other guy just looked at each other. "Get rid of her," said Partner. "She's milking you dry," said the other guy.

Story 2

On the firm before, another joiner seemed to be having problems with his girlfriend. (What is it with joiners??) Well, not he seemed to be having problems. He was paying half of her mortgage to live with her, and he hadn't had sex for a year with this "girlfriend."

Partner was helpful as ever. "Get rid of her." So he did. He moved out, and rented a small house on a finca for the same price as he was paying for sharing a flat with the so-called girlfriend.

Do men on construction sites only have one topic of conversation?