I am Chris. When I go to the nude beach, my friends ask "How did you get that beautiful 25 year old to be your girlfriend when you are 45 and plain with a middle age paunch?"
They augment this with "Mary is in a whole different league to you."
It's a long story.
MY PREVIOUS NEIGHBOURS
My then wife, Rose, and I didn't get on with our previous neighbours.
They had loud parties (to which we didn't get invites). They often argued. The walls of our semi are paper thin. This means we heard their sexual conversations. They used foul language and watched erotic films with sounds of lovemaking. They played these on full volume.
After the fake sounds of orgasms we heard the frequent, sustained and loud sounds of their own lovemaking. They bonked every night and sometimes twice a night. One time they had sex 3 times in one night and a further bout of love making before breakfast.
Knowing that they could hear our lovemaking inhibited my own libido. It affected my libido. I didn't really want to have sexual intercourse unless our neighbours were out. For me, this ultimate form of intimacy is a private thing.
LONG WALKS
I resolve my unhappiness at things sexual I took long walks. I generally don't work during the day because I am the full time Musical Director for the amateur Boscombe & Bournemouth Light Opera Society (BoBoLos, for short).
That means that I am responsible for putting on 2 shows a year at Bournemouth's largest theatre. Each show is on for 5 days. The Summer show is aimed at the holiday makers. It is kid friendly. It has 2 breaks because children get bored easily.
The Winter show is a fully staged musical number. This year I want to stage Fiddler On The Roof. I want to stage it, but I need to convince the BoBoLos committee. I need to convince them that we have the ability to stage it, that it will attract a large audience and that we will at least recover the costs of the royalties, staging and costume hire and hiring the theatre.
To do this we will have to break with tradition and employ a semi-professional to play the lead character.
This is a 3 hour long piece, with lots of great songs and a tragic undercurrent competing with a vast love of Jewish and Socialist life. Fiddler is usually noted for the film version and its star, Topol, singing "If I were a rich man."
It is rare for someone who has the character, physique & musical ability and stage presence to match Topol. My Lindon informants alerted me to Brian Smythe.He is Topol-esque. Brian has all those 4 essential qualities.
Brian will have to come all the way from London. Buying a rail season ticket for him would be expensive, as would his hire fee.
I have spoken to Brian. He is willing to do the part. He hopes.that this will get him noticed and he can go full time.
Having someone of Brian's stature will, I think, help to sell tickets. In fact I believe the BoBoLos committee should budget for a 10 day run. That means doubling up on all expenses. And, if the show fails at the Box Office, tripling the potential losses.
Brian has put together a video of him singing his characters songs and speaking lots of his lines. I have shown it to the committee, because he is crucial to my proposed 10 day run.
Brian has agreed to stay with me, as BoBoLos wouldn't be able to afford to put him up in a hotel.
So, as I walked I ran over what I would say to the committee. This walking kept me sane. It stopped my fixation over my increasing sexual problems.
ROSE'S LIBIDO
Our neighbour's sexual shenanigans didn't affect Rose's libido in the same way. In fact it increased her desire for sex. She wanted more exotic, erotic positions. Rose started using the F and C words while I made love. And she shouted them.
This made lovemaking even more difficult for me. I was supposed to be her husband, not some porn star.
I found it more difficult to get an erection when the neighbours were in. I felt that they were listening and judging my sexual performance.
And Rose shouting those offensive words ensured they knew we were having sex. I felt that I had to last longer, just so that the neighbours didn't snigger at my love making.
Eventually I couldn't get an erection at all. Rose got herself sex aids. This was humiliating. She used them to bring herself to orgasm. It told the neighbours that I was no longer capable of satisfying my own wife.
The sound of het vibrator told my neighbours that I was a failure as a husband and a man.
I got depressed and the doctor prescribed antidepressants.
THEY LEAVE
I was glad when the neighbours told us that he had got promoted and they were going to move to go to work in the London HQ.
My mood improved greatly. A week later they moved into temporary accommodation in our capital city.
I felt like opening the bubbly when the removal firm came. I was finally free of them. The following week the "For Sale" sign was up.
My libido returned and I wanted sex 3 or 4 times a week. So did my ability to get an erection Rose still continued to use her sex aids and use the F and C words while I made love to her. Given that I was older than my 9 times a week youth, I was comfortable with sex 3 times a week.
The neighbour's house was empty for 3 months. Rose stopped shouting obscenities and we went back to missionary position sex.
I thought, wrongly, that Rose was happy.
THE COMMITTEE AGREE
My mood improved yet more when the BoBoLos committee agreed to stage Fiddler for 10 days.