I was reading a blog post earlier, this one in fact, by the lovely Given To Distracting Others about people cheating at competitions. My first thought was 'what's the point in cheating when prizes you win without cheating don't turn up', then the bee that lives in my bonnet started buzzing and this post was born.
Back in March of this year I entered a competition, hosted by a fellow blogger, to win some make-up, the prize was actually a bronzer and a nail varnish. I was lucky enough to win.
I am still waiting for the items to arrive.
I have contacted the host on a couple of occasions to be told that they had been too busy to post and would try and do so the next weekend.
All the time they were too busy to post my prize, they were posting about blogger events, launch events, they also seemed to be working their way around all the bars, clubs and burger bars of London, not too busy for that!
The items were from M&S, so if they had wanted to, they could have kept the prize bronzer and nail varnish, and whilst they were waiting for one of their burgers to arrive, could have ordered the exact same items online and had them delivered to my local store. I would have happily collected.
If they hold any more competitions, I would be interested to see if the winner actually receives their prizes.
The second prize that has not turned up was a twitter retweet competition held by a shop chain back in May. The prize was a goody bag, which from the photo looked like it contained a tote bag, a voucher for the shop and some other items.
I have contacted the twitter account with regard to the whereabouts of my prize and I have not had the courtesy of a reply.
There are, of course, bloggers and brands who are so fast at sending out prizes that you have barely had time to send them your address, or so it seems.
Why can't every competition host be like that?
As regular readers will know I did not lose my virginity until I was 40, yes I was an actual 40 Year Old Virgin, we do exist, it is not just a Hollywood invention.
And frankly, I wish I hadn't bothered.
I have discussed elsewhere the issues I faced in losing my virginity and this post isn't about that. This post is about the build up that had happened over the 25 years or so prior to losing my virginity that was caused by books, films, television, friends and a multitude of other things.
The media leads us to believe that sex is fantastic and I was expecting fireworks and operatic music, instead I got sore, sweaty and an 'is that it?' feeling. I wasn't expecting the act of losing my virginity to be all fun and games, it wasn't, but I did expect things to improve.
A couple of weeks after the 'deed was done' we went on holiday, this was an annual event as we had been friends for a while, and once in Spain, we started having sex four or five times a day in various positions and locations (balcony, beach etc) but frankly, I was left unimpressed.
By the end of the first day I was faking orgasms. Now the fact that I was able to fake an orgasm well enough to convince an experienced partner tells me that either every woman he has been with faked or he just didn't care.
By day three I announced that my favourite position was 'doggy style', this wasn't a complete lie as in this position I did not have to remember to look interested as well as remembering to make all the right noises and actions.
I only had one orgasm all week and that was when I knocked him out of the way and did it myself.
I did get very turned on by the thought of sex and the anticipation of it happening so I am guessing that everything is working down there, but the act itself left me cold. And to be honest, it has been more than two years since I last had sex and apart from a brief time on my last trip to Spain when the couple in the next room were really going for it, I have had no interest at all.
Before I lost my virginity I had the hope and belief that if I ever did lose it, then the sex would be fantastic and worth waiting for. But now I know that it isn't and I have no desire to partake again. I have even thrown away about £300 of vibrators as I really do not have any desire to use them any more.
I don't know whether we weren't compatible (apparently that can happen) or whether as he knew that I had nothing to compare him to he just didn't really put any effort in, but it has really put me off.
I don't know whether I will ever have the opportunity to have sex again, but frankly, if I don't it will not be an issue.
