How should I proceed now? Is there hope?

[NotCrackingUp]

Kara, Thanks for help. Of course I know I'm not a hag - I've got a nice smile, lovely hair and even MrNCU USED to say (way back in prehistoric April 2010) that I'd a lovely face. I've the kind of figure that's helpful to have in very hard living and working conditions in northern wastes ( not very tall, broad and muscular, probably great for lugging great baskets of butter or seaweed for miles over boggy mountain roads in the rain...I just have had a habit of trying to pass unnoticed, dressing quietly and functionally. I've been working on that. It's just that he's made it clear that on that scale I've been weighed in the balance agaist the hairdresser from hell and found wanting. I'm older than she is and although I enjoy walking and gardening, Ive never been into sports. She's a former national champion gymnast.The mind boggles.

Your advice is spot-on. However, when he's here, he hardly ever so much as throws me a sidelong glance, won't look directly at me, turns his back. Makes it clear I don't do it for him anymore and never could again. That hurts so much. I must find the oomph to pull off a confident encounter, even if it's hard.

Thanks. I hope you have moved on in your own situation.
NCU