‘I’d rather eat Christmas dinner alone than with a vegetarian’: Lonely widower, 75, who appealed for company REJECTS the only offer of company because they didn’t eat meat
- Tony Williams launched his appeal after losing his wife to cancer earlier this year
- He received several offers from women but decided to spend Christmas alone
- Mr Williams said he would not eat ‘nut cutlet’ and is cooking himself a steak
A 75-year-old widower is set to dine alone on Christmas Day after he rejected a vegetarian’s offer of company because he’d ‘rather eat on his own than have lettuce for lunch’.
Tony Williams lost his wife to cancer this year and launched his appeal, placing cards around Alton, Hampshire, where he lives, promising a ‘sumptuous feast, fine wines and good conversation’.
However, despite receiving offers from several women, Mr Williams has decided he would rather eat alone than suffer the task of preparing vegetarian food for his guest.
He says he would not eat ‘nut cutlet’ and will cook himself a fillet steak from Waitrose instead.
Tony Williams (left and right, with his late wife Jo) lost his wife to cancer this year and launched his appeal, placing cards around Alton, Hampshire, where he lives, promising a ‘sumptuous feast, fine wines and good conversation’
Mr William’s wife Jo died of pancreatic cancer in May after the couple moved further south so they would be closer to her sister.
He says the loss of his ‘soulmate’, a retired legal secretary who was also 75, led to him fearing he’d have to spend the festive period alone.
But Mr Williams said he’s now choosing to after rejecting all the offers, including one woman he said bored him so much on the phone he decided her company ‘would make me more depressed than spending it alone’.
He said: ‘I did try to reach out to see if there was someone else in the same situation as me who would provide some good company but I couldn’t find anyone.
‘I had about five or six offers. Some were very tentative, some were dependent on if they had plans to go somewhere else, some were hedging their bets I think.
The retired physicist lost his wife Jo to pancreatic cancer in May this year, just nine days after her diagnosis. Pictured: The pair enjoying a trip to Cornwall in 1991
On his search for companionship cards, he said the potential visitor would get a ‘sumptuous feast, fine wines and good conversation’
‘One was a lady who was a vegetarian but I wasn’t interested. I didn’t fancy having a lettuce for Christmas dinner.’
Despite speaking to her for nearly an hour on the phone, Mr Williams said the whole idea of sharing Christmas with a vegetarian was ‘a non-starter’.
‘I know a lot of vegetarians who enjoy their food,’ he added, ‘but I don’t intend to eat a nut cutlet. It’s not really what I was looking for.
‘Instead I’m going to treat myself to a nice steak and a superb bottle of wine.
Retired legal secretary Jo died when she was 75 and the couple had been married for 36 years. The loved-up pair on holiday in Barbados in 1986
His first appeal for some company was a roaring success and saw him receiving messages from well wishers from across the world
The retired physicist, who lives in Alton, East Hampshire, has no children and said he often sits at home willing the phone to ring ‘but it never does’ – and he said he feels ‘cursed’ by loneliness
‘Another lady didn’t drive, and when I asked her what sort of food she liked she said ”anything”.
‘She had no conversation at all and frankly that would make me more depressed than spending it alone.
‘I didn’t want to just grab someone off the street, I wanted to speak to them first.
‘It was about having some fun, some laughter, sharing a joke, sharing your ethos, sharing ideas and experiences.
‘It was a brilliant idea but it hasn’t happened.’