Love on the road

She fell in love on her daily commute. Now Zoë Smith invites you along on her travels with ‘Train Man’

My name’s Zoë, I’m 31 and I’m a stalker.

I’m pretty good at it too. Through completely non-grubby means, I have had Simon Cowell beckon me for a cuddle, The Hoff has laughed at my jokes, and Tom Cruise has led me by the hand around one of his weird red-carpet walkabouts. But the stalk of my life, the one I’m most proud of, was the handsome stranger on the train who ended up falling in love with me.

For a year after he started getting the 8:21 to King’s Cross, I wore that little bit extra mascara and tried not to stare as he read books I loved. He was so beautiful and seemed a good soul, but we never spoke. I tried to test if he had noticed me by ‘accidentally’ dropping my ticket to see if he picked it up. My heart sang when he did, but I blushed too hard to say anything more than an inelegant ‘ta’.

It took that whole year for me to pluck up the courage to write him a note – on my birthday in May. When he emailed me at 5pm to say thanks, happy birthday, but unfortunately he had a girlfriend, I was gutted but decided to cling to the use of ‘unfortunately’. Remember, I’m good.

Months passed. Friends told me to move on, so I reluctantly dated substandard guys. ‘You’re too picky!’ my sister moaned.

I know I sound like a stage door psycho with never-cut hair and a massive tassel jacket, but I really saw myself with Train Man.

One Friday, the following January, I received the best email of my life. Train Man was single and wondered if I still fancied that drink. I tried to play it cool but couldn’t, so the next evening we went to our local for the best first date ever. Train Man was a good soul. He said he’d noticed my sparkly eyes before I threw the note at him and ran, and even before the ticket sham. That night I fell in love with him for real.

The following Monday we got the 8:21 – together. Now we’re going further afield, stalking a joint dream of travelling the world for a year. And you, Fabulous reader, are invited too…

Next week: Zoë prepares to travel light