Meeting Pedro
1998
Paul met his first boyfriend, and was with him
3 years. After another relationship broke up and a year of being messed
around he went on holiday in 1998 with a good gay friend. “We initially
booked Lanzarote but he wanted to go to Gran Canaria (where I had bad
memories of a previous holiday). We went to Gran Canaria for a rest,
not looking for love or sex. The first evening I met Pedro, who was
managing a bar in the Jumbo Centre (Shopping by day, gay entertainment
centre by night).”
“It was strong attraction at first sight. He
was standing in a crop top vest with long flowing hair. I said ‘he’s a
bit of alright’ and my friend grabbed me and said ‘let’s go in”. We
chatted a bit the first night but his English was quite limited. We
went to a bar and his friend Antonio translated. The second week I
abandoned my friend and stayed with Pedro and it flourished.”
Coming back to Birmingham without Pedro
Paul
said, “Coming back to Birmingham was dreadful, feeling heartbroken, the
sense of loss, feeling so strongly for this person, I might never see
him again… a couple of days later his friend Antonio rang so we kept in
phone contact”. Paul sent Pedro a bouquet for his fortieth birthday and
a love letter which his friend translated. Then Pedro called saying he
wanted to come to England to be with Paul. Paul couldn’t move because
of his son, and lack of earning ability in Spain. After a month passed
Pedro came over. Pedro said that was an awful month. He said Paul was
just his type, tall, grey hair, blue eyes, and he’d fallen in love.
Contributed by: Paul, 45