The Only Way is Up? Part 1

I was going to submit this to the Tall Person’s Club magazine, but I feel that it’s not really suitable for that, plus people I know might actually read it there...

Arianne Cohen, in The Tall Book, talks about “dating down” i.e. a taller woman dating a shorter man. When I heard her speak, she was going out with a shorter man, after going out with someone taller. The problems for tall dating are thus: a woman of 6'2 is taller than 97% of the population, thus only 3% are taller than her. Of these, some are going to be taller women. A proportion of the rest of the men are going to be married, in a relationship or gay. Or simply not interested in taller women. Then, she says, you can cross most of the rest off for not having the qualities you might want in a man. Which leaves you with not very many left. Of course there is an advantage to dating someone shorter – you're less likely to have very tall children, for example. But then again, just because you date someone taller, it doesn't necessarily lead to you having much taller children (if any at all!).

Perhaps I am prejudiced, as one person calls Arianne in her book. I may be one of the few tall girls who have always “dated up”, but that's always the way it has been. I tried to explain it the other day to a friend of mine. I used the analogy of a clothing store. I often don't go into ordinary clothing stores, as I don't expect to find anything that will fit me. So, if I went out on an ordinary evening, I wouldn't normally expect to find a tall man. And I would ignore the shorter men, in her words I don't “see” them. I mean no disrespect to shorter men, it's just that they simply do not interest me in that way. They don't “fit”. So, I came to the Tall Person's Club in the same way I go to a specialist clothing store to find someone who might. I think I have now, we will see.

The problem with tall men is that they often don’t care in the same way that tall women do. They have other objectives, of which I know not, and am unlikely to get hold of. Yes, sometimes it may be that they are unaware that there are tall women out there, or simply that they are scared of tall women. I find a lot of tall men (and quite a few tall women) come to the Tall Person’s Club later on in life, when they’ve found out about it and are possibly more comfortable about meeting taller people.

I feel like I've rambled on too much, so this will be a post in parts.

I Say Yes... Then I Say No..

So, I'm feeling quite inspired by a new friend I met on Friday (I hope I can call you friend?) Eleanor, so I thought I would bring you some more random thoughts from the world of Hilary.

So, I turn up to my friend's stag do on Saturday morning. Don't worry, this is not going to be a heady tale of drunkeness (for that, you can read my Twitter where I rambled quite a lot after a few ciders...)

We go to this outdoor place. A quick Google search of "shooting mendips" tells me it was Mendip Shooting Ground. First off, the guy comes up to me and says, "So you coming Quad biking then?" Of course I say yes, despite the last time I thought I probably would never get on a quad again. Turns out I was the only one that had been quadding before. So we go out, we zoom around, my quad stalls a lot (hopefully not my fault) and I think the guy who was leading us was generally impressed with me. Although i don't think my legs are a couple of days later.

Then we go and shoot some clays. First thing I say is "I don't think I'm going to be very good at this" The guy says "That's the wrong attitude to have" Actually, I agree with him. Why should I be worried about if I get any clays or not? It's just a bit of fun and, if I was up for the quadding (much more dangerous), why should I not be up for shooting a rifle? Turns out I'm not as bad a shot as I thought I was and ended up turning a clay into powder after a couple of goes!

So, the moral of this story is, have a positive mental attitude. Why not?

When People Stare...

Someone stared at me yesterday. I had an irrational urge to turn round and shout "What?!?" but then I realised, what was the point. I would be bringing more attention to myself. (I have, on occasion, actually stared back. They usually get the point.)

See, I don't mind people looking, it's when they go for the second look, as if to check what they've seen is really true that gets me. Yes, I am tall. Yes, I am (most definitely) a woman. Get over it.

The second time I went to France was the first time I really noticed it. I would stand on the Metro and guys would get on the train, look at me, and then look again, most pointedly at my legs, as if to check I wasn't wearing massive heels or something.

Didn't anyone tell them it was rude to stare?

Tall Observations

I was reading Don't Harass the Tall Girl the other day and nodding to myself. I wonder if this is a direction in which to take my blog?

Here's an example.

I don't often wear heels (some people say I should wear them more often, but I'm like a newborn giraffe in them sometimes, plus the balls of my feet kill after a while). I went out with work, all dressed up, with maybe 2 inch heels on. One of my colleagues says, "You're wearing HEELS? I'm not standing next to you then!".