Date 180

"Your youth may be gone but you're still a good man."

Before we met, and at her suggestion, we had a Facetime chat. I normally don't like doing that but it was great. We spoke for about 2 hours and it felt like we'd had our first date. I decree that it should be the way forward.

After our chat, she was very keen to meet and although she lived about an hour away from me near the Surrey/Sussex border, she was happy to drive over to me on a Sunday. I was surprised that she was so enthusiastic with her being 10 years younger than me and an absolute stunner, but we'd got on really well on Facetime, so what could go wrong?

Well...nothing really, but sadly she just wasn't into me when we met in the flesh. It was a beautiful sunny winter's day and we walked into Brighton along the seafront, seemingly continuing where we'd left off from our previous chat.

I bought her coffee and cake and we had a mooch around the shops, even managing to bump into some friends of mine along the way. I felt very comfortable with her and it was a really lovely afternoon. 

We made our way back to mine after an hour or so and she popped into my flat briefly for a nose around. I also gave her a small Christmas present (chocolate coffee thing from Waitrose), which she seemed really happy with and said she'd open it on the 25th. 

I got a text from her the next day thanking me for the afternoon but saying that she hadn't felt that old elusive, possibly mythical, spark. And that was the last I heard from her. I wasn't surprised as I'd sensed a possible disappointment emanating from her during the date. I thought she might have got in touch with me on Christmas Day regarding her present as I knew she loved coffee and chocolate but perhaps she just doesn't like Waitrose. 

Date 179

"If you must write prose and poems, the words you use should be your own."

I didn't know this before I met this woman for coffee, but she's a tv presenter, radio presenter and journalist. She also writes articles about online dating in national newspapers.

Although the date only lasted an hour or so, I got a good vibe from her and she was funny, good looking, friendly and ten years older than me. I came away feeling happy and I felt she wanted to see me again. She filled me in all her media work and she's got a very big internet presence so it wasn't difficult to find her articles.

The next day I texted her to enquire about another date and she suggested another coffee one...I found this totally unimaginative and uninspiring but I said yes anyway, thinking she'd choose somewhere to go but then I never heard back from her.

I wasn't that bothered really as I found the offer of another possible coffee date a bit boring so a few weeks later I suggested going out for drinks over Christmas. I'd not heard anything for a while so deleted her number on my phone. Then a few days after Christmas, I got a text from her out of the blue saying she still had family staying but when they were gone she'd contact me about meeting up for drinks. I never did hear from her again.

As someone who claims to be a 'dating expert' I can only assume that she's never read any of her own articles.