I only know vaguely that Nell McCafferty was an outspoken lesbian - 'ahead of her time' at the time, as it were.

Aha! No wonder Christy gave up the booze after that particular nightmare now!!!

"I knew he had no scruples
when I looked into his pupils
They were purple or magenta
Like a statue during lent".

Hello? Earth to Planet Christy - its a daddy longlegs!!
Do you think this was the defining moment when he decided to lay off the hooch?

To get back on topic, there was a time when I used to dream of a casual encounter on the street with the man himself.

The Pick Up Scene is a church?????
Somebody shoot me now PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It has not escaped my notice Greystone that twice I myself have mentioned how I think you are very good looking indeed, and others here have also told you this. Yet you continue to ignore that others are telling you they think you are not bad looking and you continue to bang on about how you are not good looking. Why is that I wonder? YOU have decided that you don't get lucky because you are not good looking, despite others reassuring you that this is not true - which tells me just how low your confidence is, or you have a persecution complex, or being obstinate about yourself and your so-called "lack of merits" is part of the whole "game".
Whatever, I am at a total loss here, and shall give up herewith!!

Looks don't matter, they sure help, but when I was younger and full of confidence I had no problems with going up to a complete stranger and just giving it a go. I never had any problems back then with confidence though.
Only lately am I getting back to my former self after having a bad year or two (10 actually), with no confidence you have no chance, I had troubles talking to friends let alone strangers.
It's all about how you feel about yourself inside and how confident you are about yourself, not to mention that you would be surprised at how far a wicked smile and a twinkling eye will take you, and that is before you even say 'Hi''