There was no hand holding or a kiss goodbye. The date was at the zoo, there were laughs, giggles, chat and awkward silences, just like any other date.

As part of this preparation he had stopped off and bought his date (Joleene) a single red rose from a florists. He had spent a substantial length of time getting ready and preparing himself. He turned up for his first ever date (a blind date, set up through an agency who specialise in matching people with learning difficulties) in eager anticipation. He was naive and ignorant to what the world of dating had to offer, but I didnвЂ™t see this to be a bad thing. What he knew about girls, relationships, sex, dating and so forth was from what he had heard from friends and family. He had never been on a date before or kissed a girl. However on this Channel 4 show, Sam was entering into the dating world for the very first time. I donвЂ™t know if people are willing to let their guards down like they were and allow themselves to be вЂњwoo-edвЂќ. A lot of women (and men) that I know seem to cringe at the mention of a bold romantic gesture by a date or partner. I donвЂ™t think that guys put the effort into romancing a woman like they used to even just a few generations ago. Chivalry is dead and the romance is gone. Now in case you didnвЂ™t know, the world is cynical. The more I watched him, the more I found myself thinking вЂ“ more of us should be just like him. Sometimes having fairly simple ways of looking at the world. This disability meant that while he was in his late 20s, during some of his day-to-day tasks he was acting similarly to how a child would act. Someone I found particularly heart-warming was one guy who had down syndrome (Sam). Rather it was how some of these people were acting in anticipation of/during their dates. This wasnвЂ™t what caught my imagination though. The result was a mini-series of dates that were heart warming, awkward, cringe-worthy and/or down right cute.

If you havenвЂ™t seen it the concept was simple, film various people, from various places, with various disabilities, on their quest to find love. This time by a show titled вЂњThe UndateablesвЂќ. Several decorated but largely blank sheets at the end with leading questions like вЂњWhat or who did you miss most?вЂќ invite readers to add their own drawings or memories.As so often happens with me, I was inspired for this blog entry by a Channel 4 documentary. Underscoring the overall rearview-mirror tone, a White-presenting graybeard concludes by apparently explaining to the attentive grandchild (also White) at his knee what it was likeвЂ¦back then. When better days came at last people had learned that вЂњthe most important things arenвЂ™t things at all.вЂќ Moving from darker to brighter scenes, WhitingвЂ™s painted tableaux, as spare as the narrative, depict a broadly diverse cast of contemporary human figures (most unmasked) singly or in small groups, including an interracial pair of moms with their child and a brown-skinned woman in a hijab reading to her bulldogs (вЂњDogs were happy because their people stayed home with them,вЂќ which will cause many readers to wonder why she is covering her hair). Leaving specifics to the illustrations, GrantвЂ™s spare narrative recalls a time when many people got sick, or were afraid of becoming sick, or even died-though at the same time cities became quiet enough to hear bird song, air and water became a little cleaner, people discovered new ways of being together.

Once upon a time not long ago remix