'Do you mean apart from not meeting Foxy , Fractelle, Bronwyn, Pelican, Romany, Oh hell most of the reasonable women on OLO before they met their respective hubbies what memories we could have made :-)'

Seriously man that's just sad and sickening. I'll bet they'll lap it up too.

I have no regrets. Why regret stuff when you don't know how it would have turned out had you done the opposite.

Maybe I regret a few female flatmates over the years who I ignored and moralised away to keep to my resolution to not 'screw the crew' for a less complicated life, but really I probably did the right thing. Added bonus I probably drove them insane how I didn't pick up any of their very unsubtle come-ons.

Houllie

You don't like women very much do you? Not a single post you have made since joining OLO indicates that you feel anything more positive than contempt for women who speak their minds.

I predict, in your dotage, that you will regret not making more friends of both females and males who genuinely like and respect each other.

'Not a single post you have made since joining OLO indicates that you feel anything more positive than contempt for women who speak their minds.'

Haha. This from the woman who is still haunted by the ghost of Benny Hill, and thinks all guys categorize women as fuckable or not, and believes any male who speaks their mind is bullying her. I'd be looking at your opinion of men if I were you before looking at others. Besides, since you see everything in gender terms, you obviously don't notice the contempt I have for the male posters. As you missed my contempt for examinator in this case.

You can predict lots of things I bet. Pity you don't know me and haven't the faintest idea of who I am.

See what frustrates you is that I refuse to suck up to you like examinator is, or 'thank you for you contribution', or empathise with you in any way when you appeal for sympathy/attention, or praise you on your googling work. Well, just because I don't play by your rules, doesn't mean I'm incapable of making friends in the real world. I treat OLO posters like the anonymous entities that they are. The 'people' on here are nothing more than a distraction from doing work, a passing amusement. I have real friends and real people who fulfil me, I come here for a good argument, monty python style.

What a lovely thread!

THE BROOCH:

I was a young married, we had very little money. He brought me a secondhand brooch. My young eyes saw it as gaudy and horrible;-I thought it was a joke. I laughed. I choke up every time I get it out of its box to wear it. I love it, and bitterly regret that thoughtless reaction all these years later.

THE DAY LILY:

I'd dash out to the car. My elderly neighbour always tried to get me to look at the latest flowers in her garden, particularly when she showed me her first, perfect day lily.
I professed some interest, and dashed off. The last time I saw her was in the nursing home-where she no longer knew who I was.
I love gardening now. It would have cost nothing to show enthusiasm for the day lily. I can't even tell her of my regret, she can't even remember that she lived here.

For A, and for T;-I'm so sorry.

"because I don't play by your rules, doesn't mean I'm incapable of making friends in the real world. I treat OLO posters like the anonymous entities that they are. The 'people' on here are nothing more than a distraction from doing work, a passing amusement. I have real friends and real people who fulfil me, I come here for a good argument, monty python style."

Houellebecq, that immediatly bought to mind that "Every sperm is sacred" song.

Interesting about "real" people. When I ran my BBS years ago any user could go to a particular pub in the middle of Wellington once a month. This just about put an end to any rude comments in type.

When you can approach someone who was rude to you online and say "you speak to me like that again and I will smash you you slimey little sh!t" it seems bring out much better manners in people.

I also met my husband of 13 years running that site so sometimes the people on line can become very real and very important.

Regret: Wish I had smashed a few more slimey little sh!ts back then.

Whinge: Why can't I put the i in the sh_t and you can say F'able? Huh?

Too many regrets to enumerate, but I don't think it pays to dwell upon them. At any rate, I'm very happy now in my life and I wouldn't be where I am if I hadn't done absolutely everything I did the way that I did en route.

You know, the butterfly wings and all that...

And Houellebecq, I agree that you come across as someone who doesn't like anybody very much. Nearly all your posts at OLO are some kind of snide put-down of others (women more so than men), and few contain any comment of substance.

At least you're an honest troll though.