Date 65

"Death At One's Elbow."

As mentioned in the previous 2 blog entries, during a 3 day free trial with match.com I had sent messages to 6 women and not received a reply from any of them. Well, about a month later one of them did reply.

After exchanging a fair few emails I decided to ask her out for a drink and she accepted. We had a few things in common such as sharing the same birthplace (Newcastle upon Tyne) and both supporting the same football team (Newcastle United of course), so plenty to talk about, one would have thought.

Sadly, the date turned out to be excruciating in terms of making conversation. I think that I may have even just started making things up to avoid the awkward and painful silences. She was 8 years older than me and very attractive, but completely humourless and a bit up her own arse. Normally, these uncomfortable dates only last a couple of drinks, but this one lasted 4, so I think she really just wanted a drinking buddy for the evening as she didn't hide the fact that she thought that my banter was bobbins.

As a footnote to the evening, I'd like to point out that I'm a huge music fan, and whilst most of the bands that I love are relatively obscure, I do have quite varied tastes. I can be a bit of a music snob at times, however, I also have plenty of guilty pleasures which I daren't mention here and if I genuinely like the sound of a song then it doesn't matter who it is by. I do also think though that you can really tell a lot about the personalities of people by their tastes in music. A case in point would be the band Elbow (see also U2, Snow Patrol, Kasabian, Oasis, Coldplay, Blur, Stereophonics, Muse etc.). This will probably upset a lot of people, but they really are one of my pet hates. They're quite clearly nice guys and have done well for themselves of late after so many years of being in the music wilderness; but to me they are blandness personified. And they can in no way be defined as alternative or exciting. Date 65's favourite band of all time are Elbow, and to paraphrase one of my friends: it's ok to like them but you just can't have them as your favourite band as that just shows a lack of imagination. She was also a huge James Morrisson fan too, so I rest my case. Rant over. This of course doesn't make her a bad person though, but is merely an observation.

Anyway, as the date came to a close, the finale amused me somewhat. As I was going back to Waterloo to catch the train home, I asked her if she was going there too and she was, so we started walking back together. However, half way there, she suddenly, without warning, sprinted off in the direction of a cab, told me it was nice to meet me, jumped in and then sped off into the gloom. A fitting end I thought!