I found the TMF in the best way imaginable. In late 2001 I was in a fetish club watching a woman being flogged. With a rather arch smile I mentioned to the beautiful stranger standing next to me who was also viewing the proceedings that my own interests were considerably more subtle. Her reaction was immediate- she looked at me wide eyed and embarrassed, then collected herself and asked exactly what I meant. Well, I reasoned, one really can't be shy in an atmosphere like that, so I told her I'd explain more extensively at the bar, and did. She was American, living in London, and it transpired that I was the first person she'd met in Britain with an interest in her passion. We went back to her place that night, and sometime during the weekend we spent together, between her shrieks of laughter she introduced me to the site and a few weeks later she helped me make a profile after persuading me to join.
We had a very pleasant affair for a few months before things gradually wound down, but we have remained friends for over a decade and are cordial whenever our paths cross. We are both in happy long-term relationships with other people now, and as a bonus her boyfriend and I get along very well. She and my wife Kittentoes became good friends too, and the pair of them have had many pleasant conversations over tea and biscuits, undoubtedly dissecting him, me, and men in general. That, plus the fact that she not only introduced me to this site, but also persuaded me to go to NEST 2002, the first of many NESTs I've attended since, means the story has a happy ending.
