Date 194

"Hello, I am the ghost of Troubled Joe."

Having used the same apps for ages with the same results, I thought I'd try Hinge properly. It's not quite a swipe app as the premise is that you comment on people's profile photos or like them, then if you're lucky that person will invite you to chat with them.

I tried the app for a few weeks and in that time not one person acknowledged my 'witty' comments or 'liked' me back. And with the two women who I went on dates with (2nd one in the next post), they just 'liked' one of my photos. In trying to be different by encouraging people to leave comments, I like the fact that it's using a different model but, having spoken to a male friend who left numerous comments without any response too, it's just being used as a swipe app....

Having not been on a pub date since last year, I was genuinely really nervous about this but that's probably more down to the fact that it was also the first time I'd been inside a pub this year too. I thought that the place I'd booked a table for would be really busy at 4:30pm but we were the only ones in there for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon until some people arrived around early evening. As the kitchen was closed also (presumably due to them not expecting many people in) we were given the first round of drinks free. Thanks, Brewdog!

To the date itself: I really liked her and I thought that we got on. She was 7 years younger than me but despite this we still had the same reference points and very similar things in common. We stayed for about 5 hours until we were kicked out at 9:30pm as presumably that was their designated closing time and not because we'd been behaving badly.

We then went for a burger and afterwards I walked her to the station and she gave me a hug and we spoke about seeing each other again. 

Unfortunately I never saw or heard from her as she ghosted me. I contacted her about a second date and she ignored me. Having spent a good 7 hours with her I thought she'd enjoyed my company and I had a good feeling about her but maybe she woke up the next day and thought I wasn't for her. Which is fine as I've been in that situation before but to not say anything to someone when they contact you is unforgivable. It's certainly not the first time I've been ghosted after a date and it won't be the last but I'll never understand how someone can lack such basic manners and not just say no thank you.

On the plus side though, she'd been for afternoon tea with some friends before she met me and brought me along some cakes so I had them for my breakfast the next day and they were ultimately the best thing I could take from my first date on Hinge.

Date 193

"You say: " 'Ere long done do does did," words which could only be your own."

This was my first and probably last date using Facebook Dating. It's a really basic part of the FB app and although I seemed to match with people they tended to come and go and disappear a lot.

It didn't feel like a proper date either as she wanted to just meet for a walk as she said she only did that to weigh people up before committing to a proper date. I thought that was probably a sensible way to do things and judging by the stories she told me of men she'd previously met, I can absolutely understand her strategy. I won't repeat them as I wouldn't be able to do them justice but every one was jaw-dropping. There are some absolute weirdos out there.

We met along the seafront near me and I could tell after a couple of minutes what she was going to be like as the first thing she shouted out was "look at the nuts on that!" And she proceeded to have a conversation with a couple with a dog about the size of their and her dog's testicles. Her dog was at home.

We walked for about an hour or so and she mainly talked about herself or shouted out at someone about something or other at regular intervals. She definitely seemed like a character and was sort of entertaining.

She texted me the next day and I replied then I didn't hear anything. I was basically waiting for her to respond but after 2 days she sent me this:

The spelling of 'heard' was obviously a bit of a worry as was the fact that she was having a go at me when she's the one that hadn't replied. This has happened to me numerous times where you don't hear from someone for a while and you message them and they get annoyed because they feel that you're pressuring them or they haven't got back to you for a reason. It's a no win situation though as I've encountered some women who expect you to text them even when you're waiting for them, like her. I explained myself but she still thought I was in the wrong and I didn't hear from her again.