Blind Date

Blind dates are weird. Good weird, but weird nonetheless.

Last night passed off successfully. 'Successfully' in that my date was not atrocious - in fact he was amusing, interesting and we talked for a significant length of time. There was pre-dinner drinks (thanks to a long table wait), dinner and post-dinner drinks. In the process we established just how ridiculous it was that we'd never met before given the number of mutual friends we have at church.

Then, rather embarrassingly, he worked out that we'd both sung in the church choir at Christmas. I have no memory of him, which means that I didn't think he was particularly attractive - there was only a small number of men and I watched them closely as I like singing men. I'm not sure that I found him particularly attractive this time - but then I do have slightly unpredictable taste in men and even ones that I've loved dearly I've not actually thought was hot.

As an aside, is it random that mid-way through the date, apropros of nothing, I was asked if I found Colin Firth hot? I'm not even sure what the right answer to this question would have been! [If you're interested, I said that I didn't find him particularly hot, that Guy Pearce was hotter in The King's Speech, that I'm not someone who swooned at the white shirt scene in P&P but that I did love him as Mr Darcy in Bridget Jones.]

One final thing, I fear that my date may have lacked the mysterious 'edge' I'm looking for. It's an unquantifiable quality, but it's always clear when it's absent. I think I noticed it was missing during a conversation about Black Swan...

Anyway, the point of the date was not suddenly fall head over heels in love with someone, it was to get men and women socialising and getting to know each other - if further dating follows, that's a bonus. Plus, now I have a new friend to say hello to at church. Hopefully The Matchmaker will suggest another blind date soon.

Post date-night

How I wish there was an hilarious story to tell about Friday - there really isn't.
It was fine. We met at 7pm, said goodbye shortly after 11.30pm and there were no awkward silences. On paper that sounds like a resounding success.

However...I didn't fancy him. He was a bit old for my liking and he seemed to lack 'edge'. He was very nice, we talked about theology, politics, church, university etc, but there was little comedy. Unsurprisingly, within half an hour we'd identified some mutual friends/acquaintances.

As we parted company he asked if I'd be interested in seeing him again. This caught me slightly by surprise so I failed to come up with a coherent reply, but generally indicating the affirmative. At the time my attitude was that I ought to give him a second chance.

That attitude diminished an hour later when I had not one, but two e-mails from him on the dating site. I didn't read them (I like to wait a while between notification and reading because the sneaky site will tell the sender when you read it!) but I wondered about their contents. E-mailing straight away would make him pretty keen.

After a busy weekend, I finally read them yesterday morning - turns out the second was a duplicate of the first, so less scary. I meant to reply last night, but forgot because I was caught up with watching Glee. Oops. This morning, another e-mail - I've not read it yet, but as it's also from him, I'm guessing it's a 'why haven't you replied yet' kind of e-mail. Oh dear. Now I really don't know how to respond. Second chance or no second chance?

Friday night is...

...date night.

Weird.
I have a date.
I have an actual date.
Not even 'just drinks', but dinner. At a nice location. Not just nice, one of my favourite London locations.
Scary.

I take that back. I'm not scared - apprehensive and a little excited, yes - but not scared. Me and Mr Long Replyer have been getting on famously via e-mail, so I'm optimistic that conversation shouldn't flag.

Should I be worried that I find jokes about grammar endearing? Mr L-R cracked a joke about a semi-colon the other day and I literally laughed out loud. Got to love a guy who knows how to use a semi-colon correctly!

The bigger question is what to wear. It's going to be hot, but shouldn't I be careful not to inadvertently expose too much skin and scare him off? Are my feet ready for a public viewing from someone who I want to impress? Hmmmm. Important dilemmas...