Katy Horwood and James Browne on their rollercoaster romance
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Version 0 of 1. Her story Katy Horwood, 37, is an award-winning blogger. She is currently single I worked behind a bar while studying at uni and there were always great crowds. James and his friends came in one night at the beginning of the summer. It felt like fate. I had just split up with someone else and wasn’t looking for a relationship, but James and I got on so well. He was older than me – by 17 years – but he never acted his age, something I really liked about him, and still do. He’s very generous and spoiled me rotten the whole time we were together. He’s spontaneous, too, and lives each day to its fullest, so we were forever jetting off to new and exciting places. He has a real zest for life and there was never a dull moment. We had big highs and big lows – amazing times and blazing rows. But a rollercoaster relationship isn’t necessarily long-term. James admits that can be wild and intense, which I found difficult at times. When you’re arguing more than you’re getting on it’s time to look at things. I had planned to go away with a friend for a few months to Asia, which caused a big rift. It became apparent that we wanted different things and we broke up. After that we didn’t see each other for a while, but slowly we became closer again. James can still be hard going, but as friends our relationship really works. There is no jealousy at all. In fact, we think nothing of dishing out relationship advice to each other. I value James’s friendship so much that I asked him to be my daughter’s godfather. They are very close, and the fact we he and I are just platonic makes it even more special. We won’t argue or break up, which means he will be a constant in her life. Read Katy’s blog at all-sweetness-and-life.com His story James Browne, 54, is a poet in London. He is currently single I was already in a good mood when I met Katy; I was with colleagues and we’d just had a successful meeting. Her eyes were the first thing that caught my attention – then her legs. We started chatting and there was instant chemistry. I really fancied her. I asked her if she wanted a drink after work. She said she finished her shift at 5pm so I waited until then so we could talk properly. By the time she clocked off I was quite merry, so she joined us and we had a great night until last orders. We were together pretty much all the time from that moment onwards. It was one of those relationships where you just want to spend all your time together. We had a really strong connection, but took each day as it came – me perhaps more than Katy. I’m a bit of a Peter Pan and don’t tend to think too far ahead. There was more to our relationship than just fun, though. We both like the theatre, travel, the arts and I found Katy so interesting and intelligent. We were together for about two years and in that time we went on lots of holidays: Bali, Paris, weekends in the UK. Despite our strong chemistry, towards the end we wanted different things. She went travelling with her friend, we started arguing and eventually that drove us apart. There was no obvious reason why. It’s hard to remember now, but by the end the negatives outweighed the positives. I am so happy we reconnected as friends. While we still have our ups and downs, we are essentially very close. I count Katy as one of my best friends and love being godfather to her daughter. If you’d like to appear in this column, email meandyou@observer.co.uk |