Bloggy New Year

Box fresh and straight out of the packet, we've got a brand new year to play with. OK, be careful with it now - don't fold, crease or break it...

Now, you might be wondering what I asked you all here to talk about. Well, me too. Let's see what comes out of the old noggin, shall we?

So recently, I've signed up to an online dating agency. I know, I know, this surprises you, a debonair, dashing and desirable young alliterator like myself. "They must be queueing up round the block," I hear you say. Well, it might not be you saying it but there's definitely a voice I can hear in there somewhere. Well, I can reveal to you now that this has not been the case of late (and by "of late", I mean for about the last nine months). There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, I have very few single friends these days. That certain age is being reached by many around me where the words "settling down" have been springing up - as I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I did go to six weddings last year (and it was christenings the year before that). So catching up with friends tends be over dinner or a few beers down the pub. I also seem to have this perpetual mental image (and drinking style) that supposes that I'm still about 20 so "settling down" still feels like a bit of a foreign concept. Secondly, I do actually enjoy the single lifestyle. I'm one of those people who is perfectly at ease in his own company and can always keep himself entertained (in fact, I have too many interests - there's never enough time to do all the editing/writing/filming/reading/watching that I want to). Plus my work hours can be evening and weekend intensive from time to time which doesn't help.

So anyway, as I said, I joined an online dating agency, partly on the recommendation of a friend who's been on a lot of dates through it, partly out of curiosity and partly because, while I do still enjoy being single, company would also be nice. On the whole, though, so far, I've found it a bit dispiriting. You can "Wink" at people (like Facebook poking, really) or email them and they can do the same to you but it seems quite depressing when you do so to several people and they all ignore you. You can even send an automated message back to the other person to say explicitly that you're not interested which is honest but still feels harsh.

I have been on one date and she was a nice girl and good fun but that spark wasn't really there for me. My friend has been on many dates but most of them have been disasterous - one man even told her that he could never fancy someone like her as he liked his girls really slim and was then surprised when she didn't stay for the meal! Thus far I am unconvinced by the whole thing. I'm sure that it does work perfectly well for some people - I'm just not convinced that I'm one of them.

Maybe I should just pimp myself out through my blog, instead. Anyone fancy a pint???