“Can I be your cuddle buddy for the night? ”
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“No thanks, I’m good.”
“But I’m really warm.”
A 2am Saturday morning opening exchange like this doesn’t sound like one that would lead to a meaningful long-term relationship.
But that’s exactly how it turned out for Leanda Reeve and Sam Doyle. They met at the Hay Bachelor & Spinster (B&S) ball in 2014. Three years later they’re still going strong.
Leanda, now 24, was a veteran of 10 B&S balls around regional Australia. The Corowa girl had met the odd nice guy at past events, but nothing ever stuck. Her luck changed in 2014.
She came to the Hay B&S with her female friends, and pretty much stayed in her clique until late at night. And then, it happened.
“It was maybe 2am, I was standing around a camp fire where I met a tall bloke by the name of Sam who I'd never met before. He started to convince me that I needed a cuddle buddy for the night”.
“I said no thanks and walked over to my swag but he followed me over, and I just caved and said well ‘this is it, get in, but don't get any ideas’”.
Leanda said Sam, who’s from Katandra West, a small town near Shepparton, wasn't at all sleazy. But he was persistent. After staying in touch through Facebook for two months, he asked Leanda to be his girlfriend.
The pair had a long distance relationship for a while, before Leanda moved to Shepparton. Sam then followed her back to Corowa, where the pair live together today.
Sam is a plumber and Leanda works in child care.
As the 2017 Hay B&S approaches, what advice does lucky-in-love Leanda have to single gals and guys hoping to find love?
“Don’t be afraid to get outside your comfort zone, and mingle with other groups,” she said.
After all, you never know where your future cuddle buddy might be hiding.
Another key piece of advice is to not tell people you’re a B&S virgin (and by that they mean someone who’s never been before). When the folks find out, they’re likely to cover you in dye.
The Hay B&S Ball has steadily grown in popularity since its return in 2012 after a long 15-year hiatus.
For information on this year’s event, to be held next Saturday through to Monday (June long weekend), visit the Hay B&S website at haybns.com/.