Matchmaking at work

It comes to something when one of the (many) e-mails you discover upon returning to work after a holiday, is from a colleague asking you to share dates when you might be able to come round for dinner. This might be a nice thing, except this particular colleague has been badgering you for ages about this particular rendezvous, as they'd like to set you up with someone...

This, of course, is a terribly nice thing - wanting you to meet someone you might like and live happily ever after with - but at the same time, this is matchmaking in the workplace, and this can get awkward...

Like the colleague mentioning the guy she has in mind during team meetings or coffee breaks, so that before long, every single person on the floor is aware that she's plotting to matchmake me. And the 'date' itself would be awkward - in her house, with her family (who I've not met), with someone she describes as a 'second son'. If I don't like him, this is going to get tricky.

But one of my colleagues thinks this is great - they'd like me to do it just so I can report back on what will invariably (according to them) an hilarious evening. I suppose I've got nothing to lose, but this does seem to be an awkward clash of personal life and work life.

Not at all harmonious

Just in case you were wondering whether my silence meant that my online dating quest had come to fruition (or I no longer needed to hunt virtually) I can confirm that it hasn't, and I haven't. Life has been busy and, to be honest, I stopped getting a flicker of excitement when eHarmony emailed to announce a new match. 

The problem, I've discovered, with eHarmony is that because it tells you who you've matched with it's something of a waiting a game. If you don't fancy any of your current matches there's nothing you can do except wait for another to turn up. 

Mr Beautiful Eyes didn't respond after I answered his paragraph questions. Perhaps I gave the wrong reasons for joining the site or maybe he wasn't so interested in the interest I suggested me and my partner could share. (I can't even remember what I suggested, but I think it's a dumb question!) 

But, I have a new dilemma. I got an email via the Guardian the other date and it was both funny and from someone half-way decent. Thing is, I can't reply without full membership and I'm not sure I can paying for the sake of one email! 

It's also possible that I'm only drawn to him because he recognised my country of birth. One of the weirder aspects of Guardian Soulmates is that it asks you where you were born and then lists it - I don't 'come from' there, it was quite literally an accident of birth (though one that I'm quite proud of). So for someone to have noticed it, known where it is and have been there is altogether quite impressive. Thing is, his opener was "Wow - you're from xxxxxx!" and of course, I don't - I'm utterly British. Oh well, I guess I can clear up that misunderstanding should we ever get to communicate properly. 

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...