VALENTINE'S DAY So after thirty-one days of manic dating mixed with sheer insanity - did I have a date? Put simply, "yes!". But who? You might have guessed from reading about the adventure that I took a bit of a shine to Number 13 - a.k.a Stuart. He's the guy that I chatted up in a noodle bar. Today there was a Valentine's message printed in the Guardian to officially announce my choice. It was tacky as hell, but it made me smile: http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=36 VALENTINE'S DAY! Well here goes. I'm feeling pretty grotty - over-tired, tummy ache and a bit stressed. Not really the best way to start a romantic evening, but I'll do my best to sparkle. Just getting my glad rags on and then it's time for the off! Wish me luck! http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=35 DAY THIRTY-ONE!!! It is day thirty-one of thirty-one days. Goodness. Phew. Wow. What an adventure it has been! There are still a few things that I need to try out properly, or follow up, but today I've spent having a little rest, doing my washing, oh - and flirting. Now I've been single for two years, which is fine - I love having my independence and doing whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it. The worst thing for me is not being single, but n http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=34 DAY THIRTY My goodness. Day thirty. Almost there. This project/month of madness has been such a lot of fun - I've tried things that I would never have the guts to do normally, and on the whole I've really enjoyed them - BUT - I am exhausted. You'd think that doing one thing every day would be easy to keep up, but it really isn't, especially when you are dating people on top of the daily tasks. My advice to you is try some of the things I've done - by all mean http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=33 DAY TWENTY-NINE Another busy day for me - it is so close to the end of the project and there are more and more ideas being suggested to me. I am running out of time to try them all out, so today I did two things. This morning I walked a dog, this evening I attended the inaugural FlashDate. More on that in a moment: When I worked on the Lovelines, a late-night love show on the radio, we often told people that walking a dog is a good way to meet people. Think http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=32 DAY TWENTY-EIGHT This morning I had the pleasure of seeing a certain Welshman that I met on the train a week ago. We stayed in touch after our chance encounter on the tube and he said that he was in London again this weekend. He's the architect, and having mentioned my house was falling down he said he could come to the rescue - and bless him, he did. He came over and took a look at the house, advised me on what I should do with the dilapidated extension and said that he could http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=31 DAY TWENTY-SEVEN I am beginning to think that I am jinxed. Every time I go to an airport there is some sort of problem. Today it was that my flight was delayed. I was just thankful that it wasn't cancelled! The small departure lounge at Dublin airport had run out of seats, so I perched on the window-sill with an Irish chap. One thing delays are good for is conversation. You can always use it as an excuse to talk, and so I did. I'd love to tell you who I was ta http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=30 DAY TWENTY-SIX Well. Where do I start? I'll try at the beginning and end at the end. The beginning was at 6.55am with my alarm ringing and me groaning and rolling over for a few "snooze" cycles. Then I got up, looked out the window, and saw snow. Lots of snow. That wasn't there at 3am! A quick dash through the bathroom and bag packed, I set off for the airport at about 8am. We drove slowly through immense amounts of snowy mus http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=29 I will write up the exciting Irish adventure and I'm off to the wine-taste dating this evening so I'm sure there will be plenty of stories to share. It's been a crazy couple of days... In the meantime - I've take the plunge. I'm now on eBay. If you can find my listing then well done - I can't seem to! Haha! http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=28 DAY TWENTY-FIVE: One of the things on my list of "things to do in 31 days" was to accept an offer. Today I thought that it was high time I did just that. As it happens, I accepted three offers: The first was to meet David, a guy who heard about the site through the 5Live interview and got in touch. Having noticed that I'd been blogging about Bond he suggested a few things suitable for spies, but sadly not really feasible. (As I pointed out to him, the idea of http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=27 DAY TWENTY-FOUR A few people had (what I thought at first was) a great idea. Now I'm just not sure about it. They said that I should put myself up on eBay - or rather allow people to bid for a date with me. I had it all figured out - you could bid to take me out for dinner on February 13th, and whatever the highest bid was, that was what we would spend on dinner - not a penny more. So if the highest bid was £3.54 (quite feasible) then it would be off to MacDona http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=26 DAY TWENTY-THREE: 5/2/07 This morning I had a chat with Orla on the morning programme of NewsTalk - an Irish radio station. One of their listeners was apparently prepared to jump on a Ryanair flight and come and meet me, which would have been funny, but I don't think that he was serious. I did get some new people getting in touch with me through the site though and one of them got me thinking: Ireland is not *that* far away. What if I got on Ryanair flight and went over there? http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=25 DAY TWENTY-TWO: 4/2/07 As a Londoner there are certain rules that you stick to. Always stand on the right-hand-side of the escalators, never stop suddenly in a busy street and you most definitely never talk to people on the tube. Today I decided to break that last rule and talk to someone on a tube train. As a born and bred Londoner I thought this was going to be a nightmare, but with various lines out of action I was given an "in". As I sat on a http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=24 DAY TWENTY-ONE: 03/02/07 "Stop looking" A few people have said that the only way to find a man is to stop looking. So that is exactly what I did today. It was time for a day off from dating sites and cunning plans. I was just going to cheerfully go about my normal business. I know that when people told me to "stop looking" they probably meant for me to quit the whole project and let fate take its course, as opposed to stopping just fo http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=23 Well I've had two nights of dates after I appealed to my friends for help with this dating business, so now I thought it was time to throw the net a little wider. I was offered the opportunity to appear on the Matthew Bannister Show on 5Live and appeal to the nation - so of course I did! It felt a little bit strange announcing to the world that I was single and most definitely out looking for someone, but the listeners came up with a list of suggestions of things for me to try. http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=22 So much stuff happened yesterday that I felt quite exhausted today to be honest. I wondered what I could do for my "task of the day" and I decided that positive action is needed. I'm going to organise something. It's time to reveal the "Secret Plan(tm)". So you've heard of flash-mobs right? At a specific time, 100s of people congregate at a chosen location, just for a few moments, and then they disappear again. It's all very random and comes out of viral emails and text http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=21 Wow. So much is going on at the moment. It's all got a little bit out of hand! I'm going to be on the Matthew Bannister show on 5Live at about 10am on Friday morning. How insane is that? I'm hoping that the callers will have some more good ideas for me to try because I seem to be running out! So I just did something simple today, I finally put my photo on the online dating site. I've had two weeks with no picture and 66 people have viewed my profile. Apparently I should get http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=20 DAY SEVENTEEN: 30/01/07 Advertise: I once heard a story about a woman who hired a billboard in a big city in order to get a new job in advertising (I think). This seems like an incredibly brave thing to do, but it certainly got her noticed and she had offers flooding in. I have to say that I'm not really in the position to go about hiring billboard and getting huge posters printed up, and I'm not sure I could cope with seeing myself 10 foot hig http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=19 So they say that you shouldn't mix work and pleasure, and yet some ridiculously high percentage of people say that work is where they met their future partners. So what's the deal? The deal is this - I've got 31 days, and I said I'd give any viable option a go. If it works for that number of people then it's worth a bash. Tonight was the night. Having picked my target - the only non married, non-gay, non-female, non-Christian(!) in the office I decided it was tim http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=18 I can't quite believe that I am doing this, but what the heck. I'm writing in to Metro, the free London paper, to see if they will consider me for their "Under offer" section. Each week they print a photo and short description of a girl/guy and invite people to write in with an offer. The original person then gets to choose which one they want to go on a date with and the newspaper pays for the resultant couple to go out for dinner. The next day they both dish the dirt on one another and tel http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=17 My hangover and distinctly tired state were not conducive to making me want to go out to a party this evening, but I promised I would do something every single day, and it's The Plan(tm) so I couldn't duck out. It was time for the Kate's to strike again. This time we were heading to a house-warming party. I knew no-one other than Kate and I didn't really feel like making conversation with strangers, but once I was handed a Gin and Tonic things started looking up. W http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=16 Day thirteen already. Goodness. 13. Lucky for some they say, but would it be lucky for me? Tonight my good friend (also single, also called Kate) and I went out for a night on the town. We were out and actively looking for a nice guy to talk to, but would we find one? The evening started in a funky Brazilian bar in central London. Our immaculate timing meant that we could make the most of the happy hour and so we supped on mojitos and strawberry daquiris whilst taking in the http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=15 Many moons ago I worked on a late-night love programme which was broadcast to vast areas of the country. As well as the song dedications, doting messages and the occasional marriage proposal, we also used to take a lot of calls from lonely people looking for love. We'd listen to their stories and try and come up with useful suggestions to help them find the man/woman of their dreams. One of the best received (and commonly given) suggestions was that people should get out there and take up a n http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=14 I spotted something in the paper today that got me thinking. It was an advert from the Dutch Tourist Board offering the chance to win a weekend in Amsterdam with Calum Best. A rather captivating photograph of him stared out at me from the page and I began day-dreaming about gazing into those intense green eyes for real. So what was the deal? Well you enter their competition and they choose three girls for him to date, and then he chooses his favourite to take on a Valentine's weekend to Holl http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=13 So:. No luck in the supermarket then. I tried again this afternoon for a bit of fun, but a weekday afternoon in ASDA was never likely to throw up the man of my dreams was it? As I walked through the shopping centre and past people trying to flog Sky, Car Insurance and Broadband I did have a new idea. Those people always talk to you, so why don't I talk back? Moments after leaving the supermarket I was approached by a rather fine looking chap. He wanted to sell me http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=12 It happens in films so why can't it happen in real life? That was the thought I took with me to the supermarket this evening. I planned my strategy - I'd go to a classy supermarket in town so that I would catch the lonely commuters on their way home. I'd stand by the ready meals, with a meal for one in the basket, and then someone was bound to come up and talk to me. That's how it works on telly: It didn't quite work like that in real life. In fact as I stood there trying to http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=11 FROM EARLIER TODAY: I've just booked a dinner date with the posh-sounding friend of my boss. We'd exchanged emails and I've just come off the phone to him. Our conversation involved all sorts of weird and wonderful topics - and when I mentioned my ambition to own a Dualit toaster he asked whether I would allow him to give me one. "You can't possibly" I exclaimed "they're so expensive!", but apparently he has two. TWO Dualit toasters? Wow. Of all the things he said I think I was most http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=10 Wow. What an amazingly busy week. I've had emails from people from Match.com, I've met 20 guys in one night at the speed-dating and I've had a phone call from a very posh sounding friend of my boss. So these things do appear to be working, but are any of these going to be the right guy? My online profile (still without photo) has attracted interest from some weird and wonderful people. One guy looks as though he should be on a calling card for a gay chatline, another looks lik http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=9 I had the most amazing evening! So much to say! When I first arrived at the club in Clerkenwell where the speed-dating event was taking place, I almost turned round and went home again. I was there on my own and I just didn't feel quite gutsy enough to walk through the doors by myself. But I conquered my fears and went for it. I'm so glad I did. I bonded with a couple of girls as we were told upon ordering a glass of white wine that the bar didn't http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=8 Tonight I did something that I never really pictured myself doing. I went on a singles' night. It wasn't just a bunch of lonely people in a designated area of a bar - no no! It was a singles' skating night, and you know what? It was good fun. I arrived, a bag of nerves. How would I know who they were? What sort of people would they be? Was I going to end up falling flat on my arse in front of some tall dark stranger? I needn't have worried, a few of us bonded b http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=7 Today's "thing to do" was to put a lonely hearts advert in the paper. I assumed that this would be relatively simple - come up with 20 words and send them in. How wrong I was! I sat in the pub with a good friend and we batted around various cliches and acronyms and studied some of the offerings from the paper: "Caring, black, grad, 41, diabetic, into film books [sic]" struck me as an interesting offering. I can't think that longstanding medical conditions are http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=6 Today I am taking an organised approach to this project. I've arranged to go speed-dating and to go on a singles night too. Both could be completely horrific and I'm going to feel a bit silly and nervous, but I guess that I just have to do these things and see what happens. I made a bit of an error - I got a bit excited about the idea of going speed-dating (I've heard so much about it, but never given it a go) and I accidentally booked myself onto http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=5 Online dating is all very well, but it relies on so much trust in what the other person has put on their form. I've decided today that I'm going to make good use of my network of friends. If I can tap into their networks of friends then I might meet someone that I'm more likely to get on with - right? I mean if someone is friends with a friend of mine, then at least we've got one thing in common: This is the email that I've sent out to a few carefully selected friends. Now I j http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=4 Ok, I'm a bit overwhelmed with the number of dating sites that are out there, but after a bit of research I've gone for one of the big ones. It's a bit strange trying to sum yourself up in 150 words. In fact 150 words are all you get to say who you are and what you're looking for in a partner as well. Not an easy task. I've gone for the following: I'm a happy-go-lucky, friendly girl who wants to meet someone to share the good times with. I'm ambitious, c http://thirtyonedays.com/blog/index.php?id=3