Date 48

"Oh, yes, you can kick me, and you can punch me, and you can break my face but you won't change the way I feel."

This was the last time I went on a date with someone off Soulmates, and I've not been back on the site over 18 months later.

After a lot of e-mail communication with this girl, who I think was 5 years younger than me, we met for our first date at the Southbank. I can't really remember that much about it but it was fun and we drunk a lot and ended up sharing a kiss, and she was very keen for a second date.

For our next rendezvous, we went and had a very nice meal at a tapas restaurant near Waterloo and afterwards we drunk a substantial amount at a really grotty pub nearby. By the time we got out she was extremely pissed, and being a strong girl, she more or less dragged me into an alleyway and pinned me up against the wall and snogged me without coming up for air. The fun then really started when we got back to Waterloo station. As I was about to bid farewell and get my train home, she asked me to come back to hers. I politely declined purely on the basis that it was a school night and that she was completely legless. I was then taken aback by her reaction as she, without warning, landed a very firm punch to my shoulder and immediately burst into tears. I didn't really know exactly what to do, as believe it or not, I'd never experienced anything like this on a second date so I spent the next 15 minutes or so comforting her on the Waterloo concourse while she wept uncontrollably. When she stopped crying we eventually parted our separate ways in order to both catch our respective last trains home.

I have to say that I was quite gob-smacked by the evening's finale and when I got home I received a text from her saying that she was completely devastated and she'd completely understand if I didn't want to go on any more dates. In retrospect I should have just walked away but I actually felt sorry for her and decided to give her another chance. Big mistake.

For our third date she suggested we should go to a Japanese restaurant near where she lived in Brixton and I have to say that it was a lovely little place and the food was superb. We then ended up going back to her flat, but nothing happened and all we did was sleep, although she did at one stage start a big argument with me as I wanted to pop outside for a cigarette, and she completely lost it with me. Despite her short fuse though, she definitely had qualities that I liked about her, and although I was having my doubts, I didn't want to make a rash decision that I might regret.

Anyway, our fourth and final date occurred a week or so later and she was very intense and stroppy, and accused me all night of looking at every other woman wherever we went amongst other things. We then both made our separate ways home and I remember her having a face like thunder when I said goodbye to her.

The next day she then proceeded to send me a stream of very abusive texts and e-mails. They were very muddled and I can't remember them that well but I think she was basically accusing me of looking at other women as part of a pre-prepared strategy to make her dislike me. I suggested to her that maybe we should concentrate on being friends to which she emphatically said she didn't want my friendship and promptly deleted me from Facebook.

I automatically assumed that that was the last I'd heard from her when a few days later she sent me a very long and non-abusive e-mail apologising and saying that she was emotionally immature and that she'd been hasty in lashing out at me. I accepted her apology and being the big softie I am, accepted her new friend's request on Facebook.

A couple of weeks later she sent me an e-mail suggesting that we should go out as friends for a few drinks during Christmas. Being the festive season and not being online much, I took all of two days to reply and agreed to said request but bizarrely she deleted me again from Facebook and I never heard from her. The phrase 'dodging a bullet' springs to mind.

After this experience I decided that I'd had enough of internet dating. That was until Match.com hooked me in with a special offer to join their website about 6 months later...