so1012

When Robert replied to my email I got really excited.

He didn't actually say very much about himself.

He just told me that he was now a teacher, which surprised me because he always used to say he would hate to teach.

He also told me that he'd been married but was now divorced.

Anyway, I answered his email and we agreed to meet for lunch at a restaurant I like - it's a place where I often go at weekends.

When I got their I looked around to see if I could see him, but I couldn't, and I thought, "Typical! Same old Robert", because he always used to be late.

So I sat down and ordered a drink.

I was just sipping my wine when a man came over my table and said, "carol, how are you?"

I could hardly belive it - I mean I know neither of us is young any more, but I think look good for my age.

People usually say I look five years yunger than I am.

But Robert looked like an old man.

His lovely long hair was all gone - in fact he was bald, with a few strands of hair sort of combed over his head - and he was wearing the most hideous jacket.

Well, I know you shouldn't judge by appearances, so I smiled at him and we started talking, and well, I quite enjoyed the lunch and we talked a lot about the past - but I knew as soon as I saw him that we didn't have anything in common any more.

And I was right.

Instead of the rebel he used to be, he was, well, now much more conventional than me.

In fact, he seemed just like the sort of teachers we used to hate when we were young.