My new boyfriend and I had decided to go for a country walk with a pub lunch thrown in at some point. I got dressed up carefully so that I'd look nice, but with consideration to the country walk part, and also the fact that it was late winter and quite chilly. I chose a nice smart jumper, worn with my best winter coat (a bit like a parka but nicer material, and a gorgeous dark purple colour). I put my new skinny jeans on, they were jet black, and proper drainpipes! Shoes were a challenge! I wanted to look cute and sassy, but also needed to walk a couple of miles or so! So I selected some flat shoes, in the style of ballet pumps. They were black, with beautiful sparkly bows on the fronts. Because it was cold, I also wore socks, they were thin black ones, with these amazing bright pink contrasting heels and toes. With my shoes on, there was just black visible though, so I hoped they were a subtle way to keep my feet warm and comfortable. I guess the socks with flats debate could rage for ever, but I am and always have been a fan of this, I don't see an issue with black shoes and black socks! Plus. I rather enjoy the thought of the sassy pink sock tips hidden from view in my shoes!

Hopefully you can see that I'd tried hard to look my best and I certainly felt sassy and attractive as we headed off!

We walked for a while, and it was very enjoyable. Conversation flowed and I felt that we were getting on really nicely together. My only nagging fear was that we might be a little bit lost! After a while, with relief, I spotted the pub that we were loosely heading for, in the distance, on the other side of a field. The field didn't really have any kind of path across it, but looked easily passable so we decided to take a short cut, using it. And this was very much the beginning of my problems!

Keen to eat, I strode out in front, enjoying the thought of a hearty lunch. And that's when it happened. Pretty much without warning, the nice easy terrain I was briskly walking on suddenly yielded under my shoes. I felt myself descending. I looked down to see my feet and lower legs disappearing into thick, gloopy mud! I kept on sinking and was soon up to my knees in it! I stood there, in shock, still gently sinking! I looked back to my boyfriend and he had that look of concern, blended with an overwhelming desire to laugh his head off! And what followed must've been truly hilarious to witness, I have to concede that! I tried to get myself out, and as I pulled one leg upwards, the other would sink more! I was soon up to my thighs in this amazing brown slime! All I could do to stop sinking was kind of "fall" forwards into the mud and wriggle my feet and legs to tease them out, so that I wasn't applying as much downward weight to the problem. Of course, this resulted in me basically rolling in the mud, I'm not joking, I was pretty much laying down in it! You can imagine the effect this had on my well-chosen outfit! I was covered in mud! I pulled my legs upwards with all my might to try to get out. Although I WAS getting out I could feel the unmistakeable sensation of my shoes coming off. I could feel the cold, heavy mud splurging all over my socks as I wriggled my shoeless feet out of the thick sludge. So there I was, crawling around in the slimy slop, in my socks! My sassy black and pink socks! (No longer cute and sassy, now completely covered and soaked in mud!) I'll never forget the feeling of splodging and squelching around in glutinous mud in just my socks, it was so cold and slimy. Amazingly, I managed to put my arms into the deep holes where my legs had been and retrieve my shoes. They were completely full to the brim with mud, and made loud squelching noises as I put them back on, and the soft mud rapidly "overflowed" out of them as I slid my feet in! Oh, my poor, poor socks! But at least I had them so could carry on walking, although it was a noisy affair, SQUELCH, SQUELCH, SQUELCH!!!

As early dates go, it was certainly an ice breaker!

We're still together.............