Mmmmwwwaaaahhhh

I like how Julia Robert's character in Pretty Woman wouldn't kiss on the mouth, because of the intimacy it symbolised. And I'm always impressed how they manage to make kissing look so clean and synchronised in the movies. I know they practice, but real life kisses are never quite so pretty to watch.

I also like how loaded a kiss can be. Kisses can be heart-wrenching goodbyes, or hungry hellos, an expected precursor to, or initiation of, more heated affection. And I like how a really good kiss can stay with you, a tingle on your lips, for a long time after. And I'm not talking the burn from too much stubble.

My first kiss was horrible. I was 14, and the boy was my cousin's best mate. He was 15 or 16, and I thought he was kinda cute, but I remember his tongue being all hard and worm like and coming up for air feeling like I'd just opened my mouth to our dog I was so covered in saliva. And then walking around the corner from the house where I left him and spitting into a garden.

First kisses with anyone don't do the art justice. It's awkward, and it amazed me after having only kissed one boy over a 7 year period how completely different the experience could be with someone else, and the adjustment that was required. I think the important thing with those initial kisses is, unless you're just wanting to hurry up and get it over with so you can shag them, to take it easy. I know it's a cliche, about taking things slowly, but it's nice to tease it out a bit, just to give a taste of potential, a promise of something more. I'm not saying kiss em like you're a corpse. There's just really no need for Rhett Butler/Scarlett O'Hara theatrics until there's some history, some psychological element, to fire that.

But I suppose if practise makes perfect, there are much worse things requiring effort to get it right....