Enough with the bloke stuff already

Okay boys and girls, Queenie has had enough!

She knows you all mean well, she knows she probably brought it on herself by writing a blogpost about dating, but she has one nerve left and you are all getting on it.

So before you say "Ah sure, you'll meet some bloke over there and get married", or "Are you off to get yourself a Mountie", or heckle her about going to get a man when she's trying to say goodbye at a party, or make jokes about lumberjacks, or send her pictures of Canadian men, or whatever, consider the following:

Qeenie is snowed under an avalanche of these comments. Your comment, while obviously meant to be a JOKE, does on one level imply that Queenie is in some way incomplete without a man. Your comment implies that Queenie is in some way lonely or unhappy without a man. Or should be, anyway. Your comment implies that Queenie's life is less satisfying or interesting than it could be with a man. Your comment implies that Queenie feels this in some way, and is tearing up all her roots and tracking halfway across the world purely to get a man.

Queenie doesn't know why she's going to Canada, but at the moment, she feels it might be to get away from the sympathetic comments about her single status.

Maybe Queenie is getting up on her high horse here, but she feels incredibly undermined by these feelings. All these years of being financially and emotionally independent, of being able to live successfully on her own, which Queenie considers to be the greatest achievement of her life to date, appears to be "despite being single", in other words a failure, in the eyes of almost everyone she knows.

Is she mad to be thinking this?

The fact that she is intermittently mad is beside the point.

The second last nerve snapped recently, when she had to endure a lecture on her lack of flirting ability (and how she should work on it in Canada) from a married man who would run away with her tomorrow if she gave him the nod. Which she won't. Ever. Comprendez? She's not that kind of girl. Well, not anymore anyways!

Queenie knows how to flirt, no better woman actually, but she doesn't engage in the sport anymore because it gets her into all kinds of trouble. Man trouble mostly.

Although some of the happiest times of Queenie's life have been spent in the company, of one kind or another, of a man, ALL of the loneliest, the scariest, the unhappiest, the angriest, the most boring, the most unfulfilled, the most depressing, the most violent, the most abusive, the most confusing, the most disappointing, the most frustrating, or the all-round most empty-inside times of Queenie's life have been the result of her having a relationship, of one kind or another, with a man.

Having said that, lest you all think she's an embittered old hag, Queenie would like to point out that she loves men. Anyone who knows her knows that. And she knows that mostly these times were caused by her brain dribbling out her ear and down her low-cut top and the poor decision-making that consequently took place. And she doesn't hold any grudges against men. Far from it! And any trust issues she might have are mostly concerned with her own judgement in these matters!

Queenie is a very high maintenance Alpha chick. There have been a few men who have taken her on and she will always be glad that they did. No matter how it ended. And maybe there will be some more some time. Who knows? Who cares? Queenie had a party last weekend and that's it. You're not getting another day out, no matter what.

So come on, guys, with all the love in her heart for you that she has, Queenie would like to say "gimme a break".

Plus, Percy's getting a little agitated by the whole thing. Thinking is he not man enough for her.

Percy dude, you're all the man I need - Queenie

So many hostages to fortune, Queenie, so many. I can hear the whirr of printers all over the cyberworld - Percy