What do you mean by that?

I've been talking from memory, been with my GF for over 10 years now. We were both very busy before that, hence why our relationship has been both loyal and lasting.

That clearly you are a great big man-tart

This.

laughing at the term.

They can be good so long as you have something other than shagging in common

Well, yeah, that.

And you're obviously a man who appreciates the ladies. Nothing wrong with that. Also, I like your reasoning for the longevity and health of your relationship. Maybe doesn't apply to everybody, but I like it.

True. Yup, I really do believe that we've been together so long because of our history.

Neither of us ever, I mean ever, thought about being with someone for so long and, as Tim Minchin puts it, if there wasn't her then somebody else would do (and vice versa). I think that makes a strong relationship, we both know we'd survive without each other and therefore it takes the pressure off. It ends up making it work.

That's not to say we'd like to lose each other, quite the opposite.

??

I suppose it depends what you want, I've had a number of one night stands where it was only sex, I've had a couple of short-term relationships which were pretty much based on sex and ended when there was nothing else in common, IME the more experience you have of different kinds of relationships, the better able you are to a) decide what you really want and 2) recognise it when it shows up.

I'm not much help from a "ladies" point of view, I've only ever had relationships with two, but just because you haven't had sex or a partner for a long time doesn't mean you'd be useless if the right situation came along, it just means you'd get to start fresh without your past or prejudices weighing you down.

I find it interesting that the bacon sandwich thread is twice as long as this one. It's clearly more about breakfast than sex

I think that's because we can all relate to bacon.
Lovers come and go (if you'll pardon the pun) but bacon's forever.

I've never seen the appeal of one nighters. If you think about it, the first sex with a new partner is never as good as those that come later (practice makes perfect) and I don't want my skills be judged just on my first attempt (yes, I am vane and I care about my rep). And if I see a girl as good enough only for one night then she is not good enough for me to sleep with at all.

I have very high standards when it comes to partners and sex and one night stands just can't live up to them. So I always make sure that I go into things only with 99% probability we both will want to do it again. Also bringing home a different girl home every friday is asking for trouble no matter how careful you are (google "HPV" and prepare be scared).

It's funny, someone mentioned further up that having one night stands worked better if someone was emigrating. I must say, I had a stint before I moved here to Oz. (More than 5, less than 10)

I'd come out of a long term relationship and wanted to have "some fun", I was young, free, single and fit (oh how things change). If I saw a girl that I liked then I'd have the confidence to go and speak to them and sometimes one thing lead to another...(saying, oh I'm moving to Australia in x amount of weeks seemed to up their interest, maybe because they knew that there would really be no strings attached)

It had it's good and bad points, in hindsight it's probably not nice for future partners to know about this, it also has it's health risks although I did always "strap it up". It did however increase my experience in the field and it significantly increased my confidence.

As many people have said it's not in their nature to have a one night stand, I can completely understand. For me, and at the time, there was no emotional attachment to the situation and as far as I was concerned I was just a young guy going out and having fun, I knew I was moving away so I was just making the most of the situation. That's not to say that I'm emotionally seperated (or maybe I am) when it comes to sex.

I suppose there's also another discussion that could be had here around morals, not only around the act itself but also around people taking advantage of or being taken advantage of. I myself can honestly say I would never knowingly take advantage of someone but if you're putting yourself out there, I guess you do run that risk.

In conclusion, I don't regret a minute of it, it helped me gain experience and confidence and I had some bloody good fun.

Judgement and comments:

I had bacon sandwich with Zippy today and it was good. Really good.

And no, that's not a euphemism

Yes but that doesn't work if you meet someone from elsewhere in the world and you know you'll never see them again. They can be more than 'good enough', it's just practically you both know it's for the one night.

Yeah, I think Dave and Dan are on to something with that. Didn't really think about it in that way until today. All of the summer reps are leaving in 3 days and the new winter ones have arrived. The new ones are largely gay, whereas some of the summer ones are kinda cute. We'll see what happens...