It was 2004. November to be exact. At approximately 6pm the door to HJP Independent Financial Advisers in Dorking opened and a petite brunette opened the door, oblivious to the fact that the entire company was holding a meeting.
“Hi, I’m Carlyn,” she quietly announced.
Richard Phillips, the HJP’s Director, welcomed her and asked her to sit down. For the next half an our or so Carlyn sat in the office trying to take in what everyone was saying with an eager expression on her face as she was due to start working at the company the following week. This was her ‘initiation’.
After the meeting quite a few members of staff headed over to the local pub for a drink. It was here that Ben, who had been working at the company for a few years, introduced himself to Carlyn and they began chatting away.
At this point neither or them fancied each other – Ben had just come out of a relationship and Carlyn was still in one. They did however get on really well and Carlyn went home thinking that there were a bunch of nice people working at HJP.
So the next few months rolled on. Carlyn found her feet at HJP and enjoyed working there. The company moved offices in April and it just so happened that the new seating arrangements meant that Ben and Carlyn were now sitting opposite each other, with only a photocopier for company.
The pair began to talk more and more, and Ben was there to listen to Carlyn venting when she split up from her boyfriend.
Newly single and although certainly not on the rebound, Carlyn asked Ben if he fancied going to the cinema one night to see ‘War Of The Worlds’. The date was finally set for 21st July 2005.
Ben picked Carlyn up after work and they drove to Epsom cinema, although en-route, Ben asked if Carlyn fancied a drink beforehand. Never one to turn down an alcoholic bevvie, Carlyn accepted and they ended up in Jim Thompson’s pub in Cheam.
After a vodka or two (this was the tipple back then), the pair revealed that they couldn’t really be bothered with going to the cinema after all and why not carry on drinking back at Ben’s place? (on a school night as well – shocking!)
They bought a litre of vodka from the nearest off-licence and consumed half of it back in the comfort of Autumn Drive, Sutton! As the vodka flowed, the pair grew some ‘wings’ and admitted that they secretly fancied each other and…in the words of the Mamma Mia musical…dot dot dot!
The following day at work was rather awkward as both Ben and Carlyn were extremely hungover. Carlyn was actually so bad that she had to leave work at 11am to go home, not before being sick in the car first!
Once they had gotten over this though, they started dating properly and haven’t looked back since!
Look out for the next instalment: ‘Ben And Carlyn : The Early Years’
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