Sid
As part of the participant screening process, we examine their history, including childhood, work, current life, and dating. We want to understand what makes them tick and what makes them ick. Our aim is to have a pairing that builds on their respective strengths and weaknesses while trying to avoid grating. Sometimes we will pair a more energetic person with a less energetic so that one can motivate and the other relax. My background in sports team dynamics as well as couples relationships gives a broader outlook than some other people.
For Andy and Sarah, we have two people in technical roles: She’s HR, and he’s a Project Manager. She’s been with her company for a long time, while he’d left Nest and joined his new company this year. I asked why he left them, and he opened his phone and enabled his Frequent Flyer app, passing the gold screen over, “This is why,” he stated, and I prodded him. “Bronze is better for relationships,” he softly concluded. He was candid, saying “Nest is a great company with great people, and I had good projects, though I was away too much for my last girlfriend. She left me and I knew why, so I knew I had to find a role with much less travel.” For me, this showed loyalty to both and deep honesty at the cause of failure.
We take background referees, and we got his ex-colleague Annie who stated, “Some people you are glad to be rid of them and don’t miss them, even as they’re still not out the door. We miss Andy and I’m glad he’s still calling me sometimes. Some people you don’t trust, andhe’s certainly not one of those as I absolutely trust him,” she stated firmly and with a stare that shocked me as normally that stare is a threat, though I knew that for me, it was an unsaid challenge: Is he worthy of you? Albeit it slipped out of my mind quickly.
Sarah’s boss was similarly forthcoming, telling Joelle that “If she goes, she’s missed. Hopefully not going permanently. If so, it will be with someone who deserves her,” though Joelle told me that she had a smile on her face, rather than the stare.
He said that, due to his work, his dating history was slim: the 2-year relationship that was killed by his work, and several other multi-month ones. He had a few long-term female friends, though not so close male friends. He’d tried dating apps and found them a hassle and joked “My favourite dating app is Libby. [Library E-books], She’s always got something hot for me.” I knew his extra, unsaid meaning, he wanted his head stimulated first which he was explicit about in our discussions: “Win over my head, then my heart, not necessarily in serial, though head will be leading.”
Joelle interviewed Sarah and she said that she “Fished from a small pond,” as she’s in a small town and “a lazy dater: apps are boring.” She wanted someone that she could curl up with, maybe go to a concert or go for a run. “I don’t believe in immediate love as trust needs building. Immediate love is actually a lust built on sand,” she stated. I don’t believe that, as it’s not completely true, albeit it can be.
It was interesting, though unsurprising for them, that they both ranked Trust, then Intellect as their most desirable relationship characteristics. Attraction was a lot lower, though they both explained that they considered it a product of the others, and all were cumulative and reinforcing. Some of the other participants ranked Attraction as the top and Intellect near the bottom.
Neither had children, though were open to them. “If they happen, they’ll happen,” was their outlook. Foremost, they wanted a peer: different, though equal. “She hates vacuuming but loves the dishes. I’ll do the vacuuming then, though we’ll hopefully take turns in the kitchen,” he summarised.
We ask about their attitudes to sex. He replied, “She may be hot, but not on the first night and unlikely on the honeymoon. I want to see how hot she is between the ears before below.” This was typically direct and surprised me as most couples do make love on the honeymoon. She said that she dislikes being hit on as it is confronting. She said she certainly wouldn’t be naked on the first night and probably not on the honeymoon either, though she made it clear that she’s not prudish. This reinforced our opinion of them as slow movers.
They were very honest in their responses and tended to interview-type responses, though some explanations were analogies or metaphors rather than directs. We knew that we were having to earn our responses and sometimes, we had to ponder before follow-ups. She joked that it had been ages since she’d been interviewed.
Both were keen on having someone of similar age and life experience as they like travelling and wanted someone curious. We had thought about pairing Andy with Sally, as his intellect would balance her energy, though we realised that she’d find him draining and dull, while he might think she was coarse and maybe rather dim. Sarah and Andy were different, yet so complimentary: two explorers with different interests and backgrounds, though aligned in values. We thought that they would be slow burners, just hopefully not too slow. If that happens, we are able to help things along.
Joelle
Once we’ve paired the couples, we take a back seat: we are there in case of emergencies, though we don’t get updates from the filming teams unless something really bad happens. The Producer is primarily a disinterested observer as they see and control the filming. They also have to be a coach: oiling the wheels when things stick and helping pull people out of holes. They do need to be able to generate good footage, so sometimes, they will try to add a pinch of chilli to a bland sauce.
The altar is the first time our couples see each other. Sometimes, it’s red-hot attraction, occasionally it’s frostier than a Polar Bear’s fridge. Thankfully, we’ve only had one altar bail, though we’ve had a number of near misses. The photos are a challenge for the couples as they have to work out how much, if any, they will kiss, though the Producer will help motivate them.
The wedding night is a major challenge: will they be naked? Will they even share the bed? Will they end up making love? These have to be negotiated. Then there is the honeymoon: two tired couples on a long flight to somewhere amazing. This quickly brings out the similarities and differences. Sometimes, the producer will have to get the spare room ready fast!
When we heard from Sacha that at the airport that she’d gone home after the honeymoon while he was now on his way to Charlotte, we were stunned as this had never happened. He reassured us that this had been suddenly dropped on them and she sounded resigned to the fact, so had gone for familiarity and comfort in order to call him when he was available. Her resignation was tempered with the anticipation of likely heading over to see him at the end of the week, though not back here which is what we’d hoped for.
Having the couples together in The Suites enables their group bonding and we were concerned that she would miss this required step. I offered to call her to discuss, though he said that his read was that her mind was made up, especially as she’d wanted the honeymoon footage, which she wouldn’t be able to work on without her kit if she was at The Suites.
During the week, we were concerned about being unable to contact Andy, so Sacha bit the bullet and finally managed to get through, to our relief so we could get a feel for their relationship at the Dinner Party.
Our first sight of her was as she walked through the door, and we were stunned at her attire. People like to really show off at The Dinner Party and she’d definitely made a statement! No lady before had turned up in a running T-shirt, Jeans, and runners, albeit not scruffies. Her attire was skinless and monochromatic and said several things: firstly, Fuck You: I don’t want to be here, secondly I really want to be on the sofa on a call to Andy. Her posture was a hard, defiant neutral: completely unthreatening, though it said to the couples, Come to me, rather than I’m here. She’s neither shy nor forward and we admired her intro that fronted her solo appearance, plus elegantly stating that she wasn’t going in too far discussing things with them as he wasn’t here to proffer his views. Saskia and I were impressed at her loyalty to him stating that she wasn’t going to put words in his mouth, though we all wondered about the absence of her ring.
We were concerned that her mood was pensive as we’d expected her to be happy at seeing him again and we thought they’d had a bust-up yesterday. The plan was that he’d be in the hangar’s office for the link, so it was a surprise to see him hooded and in an aircraft. His eye motion showed that he wasn’t focussed at all on the webcam which made us concerned, though her watch buzzing lightened her mood slightly. At the pre-brief, I’d wanted to question him, though Sacha suggested that he’d be better as he’s known to them, and he was concerned about her mood, so we ran with that. Unusually for him, his responses were distracted and terse: the wheel was definitely spinning, though the hamster was very elsewhere, I thought!, making us wonder what was up at his end. We were nosy about whether they’d had sex on the honeymoon, so Sally’s question was welcome, albeit his distracted and sarcastic answer enlightened nobody and something visibly irked Sarah.
My husband is a pilot and I too, recognised the APU’s sound, wondering whether this was the cause of her worry as I now suspected she’d heard it in their calls, though Sid and Saskia were baffled. Their brief exchange confirmed my suspicion, although her murderous face and storm-off shocked us all. We chatted briefly and realised that in going behind her back to get the link, we’d betrayed her trust. As Trust is their highest-ranked characteristic, this spelled trouble for us, though we knew that for her relationship with him, it was the opposite. I suggested to Sacha that I go down to mediate, which he thought that was a terrible idea and it was better that he went down, simply to observe. Sid said that going down would make me the target of her anger, so we stayed in the suite and observed the brides groping to find the cause of her anger and then to calm her down.
For her, the rest of the truncated evening was simply duty. Duty to those who had betrayed her and were undeserving of her, though a duty she felt needed honouring. Sas and I chatted and knew that, for her, tomorrow would be fun and enjoyable, tonight’s was food which was simply energy. For us, the dinner is about observing the interactions with the couples, and she could have been the waiter given how engaged she was in the discussions, not that they tried much to pull her in.
We agreed to keep a tighter eye on them in future. Over the next week, the news from Sacha was conflicting: he was getting the videos which was good, though no contact from them which he thought a portent that they were still deciding whether to quit as a couple and he’d decided to let sleeping dogs lie and he told us that he’d decided not to push things at all. Couples quit because their relationship is untenable, though never because their relationship is strong and the relationship with us is untenable. He said the families were being cagey too and thought that was out of loyalty to their kin.
The following week we again suggested to Sacha that one of us visit her and to suggest that she come to The Suites. He relayed her saying that he was likely to be home for only a fortnight before they rejoined the extended group for a debrief. We really thought that connecting with the others would be beneficial, but her description of their intermittent time together was logical given its foundation in his team’s experience. Sacha said that his view was that after the link-up, arguing with them would drive a greater wedge between, especially her, and us.
Seeing her come through the door to the Dinner Party was again, a statement that even Sid approved. This time, she wore a tailored, simple dress, accompanied only by a fabric badge over her heart and, again, ringless. The dress radiated subtlety and strength, though not arrogance. She seemed slightly bored by the guys repeating questions, though we knew that neither of them liked repeating themselves, which they had subtly let us know! She kept idly touching the badge and we started wondering what it was, so we asked the camera to zoom in, making us more baffled. “CEN…” mused Sid, “Weird. Dots and circle, ditto. They almost look like some sort of planetary map,” he observed, and we knew his wife was into astronomy. “No idea what CEN refers to. She’s touching it periodically: maybe it’s a holiday gift?” he asked aloud and Sas and I just shrugged.
We were surprised that she seemed to dislike the compilation we played as we were cooing over the stunning scenes, so we quickly asked Sacha. He said that there were better scenes with crowds, though they all had backs of heads, so they were on the floor. Sid said that he thought that Sally’s underarm was a cheapo, which we concurred, and likewise, her explanation was very good, albeit it went over Sally’s head so far she had a sore neck looking up at it. We were sad that, again she was on the outside of the group and wondered whether this was from her absence at The Suites, though we were happy that she’d hit it off with Lindsay.
Later the next day, the Master Producer called us in a state: Sacha was reporting in from the airport that Sarah hadn’t arrived for the reunion and her phone was dead. We were stunned as we had no idea what to suggest, though asked to be kept informed. We were happy that he called back later, advising they’d come mysteriously come through security together, albeit not looking like they knew each other and had completely ignored the camera, with neither phone up. We were clueless as, so just advised him to try again now-later-that-morning and failing that, hit up the families. Our main thought was that Andy was tired and however she’d got airside, they’d decided to head straight to bed, so we were relieved when he’d finally got them mid-morning and they’d agreed to film.
For Sas and I, seeing them walk into the Dinner Party was mixed: her simple dress put the others in their fancy dresses to shame: it radiated style: simple but effective, akin to a fine light from afar that brings you into its orb and even Sid murmured his approval. The corollary was the absence of any jewellery apart from a brooch replacing the badge, and not holding hands, albeit a fingertip apart. This gave us very mixed signals: neither hostility nor closeness, albeit occasional and brief brush indicated more to the latter. From experience, couples are very animated now, though their animation level was akin to coming from a long and tedious meeting. Our experience says that if one person just gives the other a drink without asking, it’s not good, so him doing that was worrisome for us and we were concerned, though this was offset when she briefly stroked his hand to acknowledge weird, but positive, we thought.
It was interesting how they handled the incoming couples: politely leading the conversation away from themselves and onto their guests and being honest about preferring to open to the whole group when they were here. “Businesslike and efficient,” Sas noted, smiling and again as we realised that they were going to do the them in one hit rather than having to tediously repeat which they hated.
“Very, aren’t they,” Sid murmured with a hint of his customary sneer, and I just laughed, though we wondered why she playfully scratched his spine upon Sally’s arrival, and he flicked hers which seemed to be unpleasant, albeit not unwelcome.
It was great that Lindsay dug out the brooch’s background: a gift that Sarah implied was from Andy. From our interviews, these two were big on implied statements so we knew that we might have to work hard when they were talking with us, and the couples would have to run from a standing start.
We were shocked that Sarah make a seemingly hit against Andy about his vows and again, they did their seemingly unpleasant spine touches, then we quickly realised that she’d done a lead for a fun play against him and her brief head touch on his was probably affectionate. “Mixed signals here,” I proffered to Sid and Sas, “Looks like leads and plays, not hits and the head-touch—hmmm.” Then another false-hit-cum-play and more weird touches. We were really stumped now: it was obvious she was leading everyone down blind alleys with initial statements, then going hard away with the conclusions and everyone was working hard to chase their punchlines-cum-meanings.
“These painful?” Sas questioned, “Dings. Weird. If they’re painful, we’d expect a bad reaction?” she continued, “Seems the opposite?” she shrugged as we repeated her stumped shrugs back, though it was fun to see her lead and then lose Sally after that base question to him when he was in the aircraft.
“They’re sending signals, we just can’t read them?” Sid mused and we agreed.
When she responded to Tony’s question about Patagonia, I asked aloud “Why’s she talking about the runway?” as this is what my husband’s first response to my question tends to be: describing the runway, not the city! And I wondered what knowledge she’d picked up while away. Her later idle comment about warming up made Sas and I wonder: was the hotel cold or were they alluding to something else? Again, more signals albeit ones we barely read, or at all.
“We’ve got plenty to ask tomorrow,” Sid mused, and we smiled. Trying to get unencrypted answers would be our challenge, though.
Sas and I were happy that someone, Lindsay, went for the elephant: the brooch and the response left even Sid open-mouthed. However much she’d hit it off with Andy, and we were leaning towards the A lot option in the absence of evidence towards Not at all or Hates him ones, she’d hit it off with his group and, more importantly, the two Pilots.
“Ah, Star: but you can’t see PC: she’s a red dwarf: Alpha and Beta Centauri are visible though: they’re markers for the Southern Cross,” Sid observed, stumping us.
We noticed that, when talking about Patagonia, he was very quiet, and she was doing about 80% of the talking which we thought unusual. At the Expert Day, I asked him why he didn’t answer much. He looked directly at us and replied softly, “I know the guys well. There was, and is, nobody there,” he briefly tapped her leg, “that I don’t absolutely trust.” Another signal, and an obvious one, I realised. “It was a very good, though normal Down. Sarah’s the best judge of how things are there as she’s never been before. If you want an honest opinion, it’s hers, not mine,” he concluded as she playfully nudged him. I knew that was typical of him: intellectual honesty, even if it meant deprecation.
Sid
The idea that the kids were treated as peers was surprising and initially weird, especially that they were let free for a whole night, though with implied parameters. Though, once I reflected, I realised that they were exhibiting an extreme form of bottom-up leadership including when Miss Weasel had decided to mentor Sarah so both could learn together, and Sarah would start to connect with the group. Politeness and respect imbue a team motivated to produce extremely effective knowledge sharing where even the youngest child knows similar amounts as a middle-ager. We realised that some of the couples could learn a lot from Sarah’s impartations, though they were going over the heads of the needy.
Joelle
The response was very interesting in its honesty, though expected from them as they could be incredibly honest and self-aware, albeit expressed very modestly. Their brief touches were reinforcement and communication: something we now knew that you need to understand in order to read and there was a lot of them, though minimal verbals. This showed that their connection is far deeper than we had thought and while we could see, others still didn’t.
Saskia
Dinner Toasts are usually brief, upbeat, and always solo. The Master Producer was impressed that he’d offered to perform The Toast after Bring Up. It was a surprise that she rose and slid up his chest, though an obvious signal about their relationship and we wondered what was in store. His softly spoken Keynes quote raised our eyebrows and piqued our curiosity at leading off so highbrow, then City of Sorrows threw us as nobody knew its source and piqued us more about it and their heading, though we saw that some couples were already lost. Then, it was obvious: needs lost: the quake victims, then theirs. The soft call-and-responses only heightened the poignancy of their message about Hope, and we were on edge awaiting the conclusion. Typical them: the most important is delivered with the least volume, gaining maximum impact as they concluded with the signs and leading, finally, to themselves and The Experiment. We were finally able to breathe at the soft ending. We saw several couples who understood and were enthusiastically applauding, though those who really needed the message didn’t receive, so politely applauded.
I was still curious about the City metaphor and later wikied it, finding out it came from 90s sci-fi though I wasn’t sure whether their real meaning was literal, or also a dig. Neither Jo nor Sid could add anything, so we had to assume it was literal, and they must be fans. We’d gone down some interesting side-tracks during the interviews and while we were intellectually keen to explore, we knew the couples would not want to join us, so sadly, that road was left tantalisingly unexplored.
Sid
We were thinking the dinner was going well and they were integrating into the group well. Tony’s enquiry about Patagonia unknowingly unshackled a powerful bomb that nobody knew was now descending. We soon knew that she’d learned an enormous amount and Jo was hanging on her every word, with my curiosity, too, red hot. Then the bomb’s first stage detonated as she said the Pilots had recruited her and they’d be in Seattle initially for three months after New Year. I was initially astonished at his reaction, though hearing his Absolute Trust statement, it made sense and clarified the strength of their relationship, and with them. We realised the second stage would slam us and the crew and its shockwave reverberating for the rest of the series. They had blown a huge hole in Final Commitment as that outcome was now known and we had to either edit most of their today out or keep it in and ditch their final commitment. We had no choice: No.1. For us three, never have such softly spoken words caused so much trouble!
Dinner Parties are always lively, and this one was, as usual, including the other couples’ banter. The difference was that the quietest pair had made the largest surprise, and on us, rather than against others per the norm.
Despite the bomb, we wanted to flesh out their feelings on the sofa. Their one-word responses were semi-expected as, while they are problem solvers, during their interviews, they freely admitted not going hunting for more. Their elaboration about the vows simply locked us into a dead-end, so I had a run at their airport reunion.
It was obvious that the old bird behind them was either in on their plan, or the instigator and we wanted to know the truth. I realised that Sarah’s response was truthful, albeit evasive out of loyalty in not wanting to out her. His close-down was something I’d seen him do before: answer a question with an unanswerable one.
Joelle
We knew that asking them about Bring Up would be raw, though not of that magnitude. Her acidic and terse intro conveyed how much we’d betrayed them and her knowledge that he was nearing the abyss. His increasingly haunting and quietening description of proceedings and his descent drove home how much pain we’d caused them and sent a freeze through the hot studio. The final comment about being alone and wanting to comfort her was powerful and the fullest, albeit typically discrete, account of their feelings, and it visibly and viciously slammed us. It was obvious that they’d discussed it together, and likely with others. I thought that the old bird was one of those. If so, the reunion was her retribution for our betrayal and so effective. I discussed this with Sas and Sid later and we concurred that, if so, she is someone they must be truly grateful to know.
When they entered the following Dinner Party, we wondered what was up with her as they entered listlessly and not holding hands. The signals, again, were mixed: neither hard bads nor hard goods. It was a relief for all that, having rode her journey, we discovered that simply, her brain was fried!
Saskia
The Sex Question was on all our minds as nobody had been able to wheedle anything resembling an answer out of them, so I had to roll the dice, not expecting a definitive. Again, she seemed to be having back problems from his touches, though while she reacted to them, they still didn’t seem unwelcome. Her response was typical when she was cornered: pose an alternative, though similar, scenario and ask what you’d do. Jo and I had to ponder this, and we realised that our response would be hot, though not a drink!
Sid
I thought that asking him about his feelings for her might drop me through a trapdoor, and this one was opened so smoothly and painlessly as he made an exquisite dig at me. I realised that their respect manifests In being very open and honest with each other, albeit avoiding being explicit in public and this was yet another example.
At the next Guys’ Day, I sincerely wanted to know his feelings while away, and his response was chilling. He was paralytically impassive as he laser-focussed in on me, stating that “Emotions distract. People die,” and I knew he spoke the purest form of truth. A truth that hopefully he’d learned only second-hand, and I shivered when he delivered it, as did the guys and I do believe that she understood his absence as they are intelligent. His final comment about crying was bloodletting cutting and I’ve never felt so bad hearing a comment as that again, knowing it was partially aimed at me. He’s neither overly emotional nor does he suppress them: the hangar was the right time for him to release, though we had uncertainties about what did happen the following day. I realised that, whatever happened, his implication was orders of magnitude better than we seemed to think.
Joelle
I’ve never had less interested people in a topic than Sarah and Lindsay at Girls’ Day. Maybe because they had imbibed coffee and had well-used plates, unlike the others whose plates were barely sullied and wine glasses very, they were at full steam, which for them is powerful. Her responses were honest, and analytical and cut the nuts off my sex toy demo, which I thought seemed based on a lot of experience: probably theirs, though I knew that it wouldn’t air as it would sink the sponsor!
If I thought she looked bad at the previous Dinner Party, at this one, they looked like death, albeit a pair of deaths. I actually got the key bits from her intro as hubby’s told me about 650s and Northolt as he’s dreamed of flying these hot birds. I wondered how they’d managed to snag this and was grabbed hard in, though Sid and Sas were just plain stumped, then I laughed when they did their coffee neck as it’s exactly how hubby does his engines and sometimes his coffee too! We all smiled when the cause was explained: they’d been naughty and had a very deserved, extremely fun night last night!
It’s nice that they’ve hit it off with L&T and are helping them with a second honeymoon, again showing their innate, generous, and loyal personalities. I was quite envious as they’d managed to snag some hot hotels, and I was hoping that hubby could get us there too!
Saskia
As they approached the sofa for the final time, we saw that their attire was sending a subtle message again: from her first Dinner Party T-shirt and then the families’ telling Rat ones, and then her dresses which subtly conveyed the opposite and now, these were subtle, albeit clear statements. I stopped them as they approached the sofa so we could absorb this message: entwined logos means entwined wearers, then I asked them to display to the couples, so they too, could hopefully receive. Raising fingers to L&T indicated that there was a third T-shirt, that they, though not us had seen!
At the final sofa day, we invite all remaining couples to give their final views. As expected, Sarah started intellectually and honestly, repeating the Honesty and Trust statement that she’d heard here, and apparently, with her new team, though with the passion of a Cluster Bomb departing its rack. We immediately knew that, in our roles as Experts, we’d sometimes played Devil’s Advocate so we were a target, though some couples were like unknowing tanks below, as she evaluated here and there. She knows that there, absolute honestly literally saves lives and absence literally kills, whereas here it is merely words that wounded. We felt the munitions hit and detonate, like some of the couples, albeit L&T just got some rogue shrapnel. His dispassionate though typically witty Parker response was of the aimer confirming the hit and elegantly supporting her.
We had hoped that they would publicly affirm their feelings, though already knew that they had via their attire. Most couples that do are very affectionate and effusive. His manner and tone were akin to wondering if she wanted a biscuit with her coffee. It was apparent that [The] Weasel as Sally referred to her, had made a profound, and unforgotten though unrepeated here, statement now writ for both which she replied in the same tone akin to accepting the biscuit. As always with their relationship, and Sacha had said, the signals were readable: you just had to be able to read them, though their kisses were deeply emotional rather than passionate. Sid nailed it with his summary. I realised that they probably needed drugging or more than a few shots to make the statement we desired!
Joelle
After the sofa session, they pulled us aside and asked if we could have a brief chat. They started by thanking us for matching them, which we thought was very nice albeit typical of them.
“Have you got a screen?” he asked to our surprise, and we quickly found one that they paired to his phone.
“We thought you’d like to see these?” she said, “Nobody here, even L&T have seen these yet.” We were all on edge wondering what they were dropping. The Honeymoon video played, followed by Patagonia: this time with all the faces and including some good shots taken from the aircraft, which they gave a light-hearted narration of, and finally, Canada. Now we got her sourness when we played their away videos: this was the purest, and thus richest, distillation of their time, whereas we had played a very weedy brew made from these ingredients. The last one started with the jumper graphic and stunned us as it was obviously voiced by children with a lot seemly their presentation, though she looked very off standing by the bizjet at the end and we were visibly moved, knowing that she was outside the same plane that Bring Up was filmed on.
“Apart, united, together,” she mused to our confusion as he held her tightly, somewhat to our surprise as they’d never really touched that during filming. “Bring Up’s pilot filmed us: she told us that.” We nodded sombrely as it was the truth that he’d told us: he’d cried in the hangar as Sacha was wondering if she still wanted to kill us for putting him in that situation. They were always united together, though sometimes and very validly, against TLS.
“Weasel,” I asked softly, guessing one of the pilots, they’d mentioned [possibly] her by name the most, albeit still sparsely.
They hesitated, “Yes. We love her immensely. She’s like a big sister to us and she’s been there for me since our first call,” she replied.
“Who made them,” Sid approvingly asked about the videos and barely beating us.
“First one: me, others were me and Miss Weasel.” This floored us, realising that a very gifted amateur and a child had done such a good job.
“What’s it like when you go out? Hubby would like to know,” I asked Andy and shrugged an apology at Sas and Sid, as I wanted to get it directly, and then a translation when I got home to fill in the blanks.
He led off, semi-light-heartedly explaining how the planes were rapidly sent off to the staging airfield and he didn’t know his endpoint either, which shocked us, and then they played off each other at a surprisingly fast and happy pace, explaining how things went during the first week, and how they had gone in previous times. We were semi-surprised at this, as it seemed rehearsed despite me just dropping the question. We were also impressed by her depth of knowledge, though we shouldn’t have been after her initial post-washup comment, and it was very endearing to see how in sync they were. “We get some stinkers [days],” they shrugged, “We just roll with them and move on,” low-keying that infamous day, and they briefly kissed and hugged again, and I realised that they’d put their hard times into the Experience Bucket. Then they carried on with his second week, admitting that they had more time to chat, and she explained that he’d been giving her a very high level up on what he was doing during their chats. “The Admins are always there for us,” he concluded, as Sid unexpectedly and weirdly shivered again.
“Washup was very different: it’s normally done in a conference room with an Admin,” he said to another shiver from Sid which we thought weird.
“Very different this time,” she giggled, and they kissed again. I thought that this was very weird as they seemed to have found digging through diaries romantic, rather than a slog. Whatever, it seems to have done well for their relationship, I shrugged as Sid looked intensely on absorbing things for his practice, though most of this was not of much interest to Sas. I noticed that Sid and Sas were quite surprised at seeing them this light-hearted and affectionate and it’s very different seeing a couple just having fun, rather than us going in to dig them out of a hole very different, extremely nice, I concluded, thinking about discussing this at home later and wondering if I’d get the same reaction. Maybe this Expert can be taught? I thought.
I realised that for filming, they were dressed smartly in probably their work clothes, and their mind was work mode too. Shame that they didn’t let this part of them out there, I mused.
“We did this for Sarah’s Exec Team just before Christmas, maybe presented slightly differently,” he playfully shrugged, and she looked up at him, flickering her eyelids, which explained a few things to us, and he held up four fingers, then closed them to a fist intimating his fee. I knew we’d learned a lot from these experts, though probably we could apply very little, still interesting, I concluded.
There was an elephant in the room that nobody would address. Andy glared at us, “You know we don’t bite, just ask,” he playfully snarled, then we all laughed, breaking the ice.
Actually there was a herd, and surprisingly, Sid went for it, though ignoring the T-shirted one. “Neither of you are showy: polite, quiet statements is your style in every respect, except just here” he affirmed, purring as I saw Sas inwardly glowering as she’s the purrer, “Your dresses exemplify you. So simple and so elegant,” he said softly with a smile and still admiringly purring, “Discrete but stunning that makes powerful statements: I thought they were the best that anyone wore,” as Sas and I nodded vigorously. They just modestly shrugged, and I thought they were likely embarrassed at his praise.
They rested hands on his lap and Andy led off, explaining how the Admin [Wing] had suggested it soon after his feet left the ground, working through how she’d sourced them, then his powerful reminisce in the hangar post-Bring Up about possibly getting the others, and finally, presenting it in Patagonia.
“How did you feel her essentially buying you the dresses?” I asked.
“She was in contact with me throughout the first week. I helped check the first one in, not that I knew then!,” she laughed. “It was labelled 10B,” and drew the notation, “10B’s now my boss. She’s Weasel’s sister and dropped that idea onto W!” and we were laughing at the Admin’s sneakiness. “I have absolute trust in her, and she’s a true friend now,” she concluded, though Sid looked like someone had knifed his heart.
Andy continued saying how they had bought the Formal which Sid was contentedly and approvingly purring. He continued about presenting her with two dresses to increased purring, “Getting effective, though at the time, making me take the call decreased it,” she scowled, and they playfully kissed with even Sid getting the read on this, albeit the mention of The Admin sent him briefly weirdly morose again. Their playfulness still surprised us and we realised that, in private and when relaxed, they are much looser, compared with in the studio where they were like they were during the screening interviews. He continued with the call where they’d surprised her with the Formal and the pilots’ rapid ending itcall. “Very effective,” they giggled with another playful, though slightly longer kiss, and we cooed longer, reading the actual meaning, though Sid then reverted to morose.
“We’re not morning tea drinkers, though we did have a coffee later,” Andy concluded slyly. She kissed him on the cheek as our brains processed that ending and we now understood its connotation – the Sex Question that we’d posed on the sofa! We knew that while they never lied to us, they were admirably infuriating in how they prevented boundary crossings. And now we realised that when they are comfortable, they are open, as well as readable, though still not direct!
“You OK? You look awful,” Sas asked Sid as we were both concerned at his unheard-of yo-yoing.
“’Absolute trust,’” he said in a slow, morose tone with his head slumped in his hands looking like death, “First time I heard it was one of Andy’s referees: oldish lady. It had a menacing undertone that slipped me. Now I know: it was an unsaid challenge: ‘Are you worthy of him?’” he sadly mused thinking he was unworthy of her and hoping he was worthy of them, causing us to self-examine. “‘We’re not stupid enough to find out,’ you said when I asked about the airport.” We were baffled at his direction, though they seemed to have got it. “You won’t say and won’t ask because you’re loyal and very grateful. I think the referee and the old lady behind you at the airport are the same person. Explains a lot,” he concluded, and we could see his colour returning as our understanding slowly dripped in.
“Not you guys. Everyone has a job to do,” Sarah consoled in a professional tone as Andy nodded. Very gracious, I thought, and they came over to embrace us, which we gratefully joined.
“What’s the plan?” Sas asked trying to lighten.
Sarah put her head on his head and looked at him. “When we’re ready, we’ll be ready. Nibbling along,” she laughed, and they briefly kissed again.
Their story writ: They have a pace that’s sometimes unknown even to them, though always forward,” I thought, smiling as Sid and Sas joined in, and we hugged goodbye.
