The following story came to mind recently and I thought I'd tell it on here.

I got involved performing in musicals around about 5 years ago. I was in the process of reinventing myself and decided that I wanted to be on stage (it turns out I did). I knew that a girl at work, whom I sort of fancied and sort of didn't, was in a group that did musicals, so I asked her how to join the group.

It wasn't my first attempt to get on a stage. I'd gotten in touch with a local theatre, which was largely about amateur productions, asking which groups they knew of that I might join. They ignored me. Brilliant work.

As it happens, though, the girl at work suggested a key show that I could get involved with. It was key because, as I recall, it lit various fuses in me at a time when I was ready to get into something new. As a result, I'm now musicals-obsessed Ashley.

The show was Chess.

The girl found herself not the sole focus of my attention during rehearsals. In fact, I largely didn't spend time with her. I was in the baritone/bass section and she was a soprano. It would never have worked. Actually, it was singing with her in the car a few times (I forget the circumstances) that demonstrated my vocal affinity with sopranos, but I digress.

So, I did the show and had a great time. There was a tradition to send people gifts and cards on the last night of the show. We followed this tradition. I remember the card I got from this particular work colleague. It, essentially, read - "Wow. Thank you for not using this musical malarkey as an excuse to try to sexually harrass me outside of work.". I say that, but I'm exaggerating for comedic effect. It actually said something about how impressed she was that I'd thrown myself into the show for itself and how she hadn't know my motives when I set out.

At the end of the day, she did have very big breasts, so she was right to be wary.