Welcome to the dating diaries, where we speak to real people about their dating experiences. We cover the good, the bad and the ugly of the dating world. Our aim is to not only entertain you, but help our readers to navigate their own dating lives, by picking up tips and learning from other peoples experiences.
In this weeks dating diaries we talk to a 33 year old female working in communications, who dated a 36 year old male plumber.
*Names in the post have been changed for privacy purposes*
Where did you meet?
“On a night out.
I was with my two friends, and we went to a bar in central London.
I was coming out of the smoking area and was walking down the stairs which led back to the bar.
I noticed him coming down the stairs too. He was wearing a white shirt, black jeans and nice shoes. I remember thinking I liked how he was dressed and that he was good-looking.
I had heels on, and the stairs were quite steep; I was pretty tipsy, so I was clutching onto the bannister. He must have noticed that I was struggling because he held his hand out to me without saying anything, so I took it and held his hand for balance as I came down the stairs.
When we got to the bottom, I thanked him, and he said, ‘You’re welcome’, and we both went back into the bar. He went to his friends, and I went to mine.
I remember feeling quite bummed that he didn’t talk to me more, and I don’t like to initiate the first move.
However, about 20 minutes later I was ordering myself a drink, and he came over and offered to pay for it. We began talking, and I practically spent the rest of the night in the bar with him.
We swapped numbers and talked a lot on the phone for a few weeks before we met up.”
Where did you go on the date?
“I was living up north, and he was living in London. I was due to come to London to stay with family for the weekend, so we agreed to meet that same weekend.
We decided to go for dinner and drinks, and he said he knew some good places in London.
I was staying in south London and he lived in north. He had arranged the date in north (quite near to where he lived.)
This annoyed me a little as I felt he had made it convenient for him to get to without considering how far I would have to travel to get to him.
I guess I thought he could have booked somewhere that was convenient for both of us however, I went anyway, but not without a mental note that he could possibly be a little selfish!
The date was a little different to what I had been on before. It was an all-dayer! We met in the afternoon and were together through the night.
We went to the pub for drinks, then we went to a cute little Italian restaurant for dinner, and then we ended up going to a couple of bars in the same area!”
What did you wear?
“I kept it smart casual with tight-fitted jeans, heels a cami top and a biker jacket. Classy but edgy!
I would have made an effort anyway, but before the date, he kept going on about how he liked women to dress, what looks he liked on women and what he found attractive.
I didn’t know whether to feel offended or not because If he was dropping hints, he really didn’t need to be dropping hints to me about how I should dress for our date. I always look hot when I go out, PERIOD!”
How did it go?
“Whilst we were in the bar, he told me his friends would be joining us for drinks, I thought this was quiet weird…”
“My date was genuinely a hyper person with quite a big personality, so there was never a dull moment.
He made me laugh often, however, I couldn’t help but think that perhaps I could end up getting tired of him being hyper as I genuinely didn’t think he had an off switch!
The restaurant’s meal was lovely, although it was super busy and quiet-loud, so I felt like it wasn’t that intimate, as we had to raise our voices to communicate, but I didn’t mind.
After the meal, we went to a bar that was not far away from the restaurant for drinks. The bar was less busy than the restaurant, so we had more time to talk more intimately.
He spoke a lot about his life and his childhood which I really appreciated, actually. It showed him that he was capable of being serious and vulnerable aside from his loud, hyper side that I had seen.
He had had a very different upbringing to me, so I enjoyed hearing about his life and found it intriguing.
While we were in the bar, he told me his friends would join us for drinks, I thought this was quite weird as I had never been on a date where someone had bought his friends.
I also thought he could have asked me rather than told me, which I found quite annoying, but I guess I didn’t mind that much because I didn’t object!
I asked him who would be coming, and he told me his friends, Khye, Jason and Keira and that I would get on with them.
I was pretty nervous about his friends coming because dates can be daunting enough, let alone having friends come on them too!
After around half an hour, they arrived, and my first impressions of them were good! I pretty much liked Keira within the first 5 minutes of talking to her. She was kind, friendly, and the only other girl, so I felt like we had that instant female bond when a female is outnumbered!
We ended up having a perfect night, and we all got really drunk – probably not the safest thing to do when on a first date, but it wasn’t a ‘normal’ date, and it felt like being on a night with my friends!”
Who Paid?
“He was a gentleman and paid for everything!”
Did you see one another again?
“We kept in touch via telephone as we didn’t live in the same city. After about 6 months, I moved to the same city as him, and we saw one another again plenty of times, but this was just as friends.
We had so much fun on our first date, but there was no romantic connection there, and we both decided that we were much more suited to being friends.
I actually ended up dating his friend, which he was totally cool about and encouraged, but that didn’t work out either!”
Rate the date:
“8/10 – due to the fact that his friend being there made the night fun and we had a good time!” 🙂
What dating advice would you give to others?
“I would honestly say that dating and finding the one is not the be-all and end-all! Don’t put pressure on yourself to meet the right person.
I would advise anyone to just get on with life, and it will come when the time is right and, more often than not, when you least expect it!
Be happy, and have fun. You will always be loved because you are love!”
