The Internet Date

Over a year after Joel had first encouraged me to sign up for internet dating, I finally had plans to go out on my first date.  I was a bit suspicious, as this guy had barely e-mailed with me before suggesting meeting up for a drink, but he'd been persistent, and we finally had a day to meet.  He seemed funny and responsive enough over text, so why not give it a go?   


I made it to the 5th floor of Waterstone's bar, and was sitting at the bar when he arrived.  First impressions were good:  I mean, you hear all of these horror stories about how it turns out the person used a 10-year old photo of themselves, or that when the guy said he was 6-feet tall, he was really stretching the truth about 5'7".  However, this guy was just as cute as his photo, really fit, and honestly 6-feet tall.  We were off to a good start.


And as we talked, I found him to be really smart, funny, and interesting.  We had a great time, staying for two drinks at the Waterstone's, getting into a good debate about the Euro and the underlying causes behind its collapse.  Good political debate across a range of topics, from the future of Africa (his father is South African, his mother is Kenyan, making me wonder what it is about me and South Africans), to how much money charities waste.  We were having so much fun talking, that we moved on to dinner, and continued quite a lively debate until they kicked us out of the restaurant.  I really had loads of fun and he paid for everything (although since the place we went was cheap, I don't feel too badly about that).  

And yet.

When it came time to part ways,he must have sensed the complete lack of sexual chemistry, as he gave me a polite peck on each cheek and I walked to Totteham Ct Rd while he walked to Picadilly.  And I'm still wondering, "Why on earth can't I be into a totally awesome guy?"  

I keep trying to pick apart little things to figure it out, like the fact that he had trouble maintaining eye contact (although to be fair, I know I do that at times, it's a bad habit), or that his voice cracked at times.  But whatever it was, it just all added up to the whole of me thinking that he was an awesome guy, but yet somehow missing that "je ne sais quoi".  

At least the feeling turned out to be totally mutual, as the next day he texted me:

"Lovely to meet you last night.  Would happily meet again but don't think the chemistry is there I'm afraid, sorry.  Good luck with it and maybe see you around sometime."

I was so amused I just wrote him back straight away:

"You sensed it too, eh?  Glad to know we're on the same page.  I guess that's why it makes sense to meet up straight away, as you were right, a cheeky glass of wine will tell you more than a million emails ever could!  No worries, had a fun time regardless, hope you did too..."

I think he was so relieved he came right back with:  "Definitely.  Was going to add that if either of us had a spare ticket for theatre etc sometime it would be good to keep in touch."  

Well, it's nice to know that my powers of perception aren't totally off, and I figure at least I made a new friend out of it!  Chemistry is a fickle thing, isn't it?

Now back to the drawing board to try again!