I went speed dating....

[salt]

... and it was GREAT!!!

any single mums out there - I would highly recommend it. It was so much fun and a great boost for the ego when you see how many ticks you got, although I'm worried that it might be as addictive as mumsnet. I'm already planning to go again.

come on then salt, what is speed dating? I have visions of big bowls of amphetamines and everyone rushing round sticking big ticks to each other.....

Message withdrawn

Salt, You are very brave. My mum is running a campaign for me to go, actually because she is terrified that I am giving up looking for a partner and will just have another baby on my own. I can't face it though and no one will go with me. How depressing would it be to get no ticks? What town are you in, and which agency did you use?

I know two people who went (a former colleague and my old nanny) and they both had a fantastic time, got millions of ticks and dated someone they met. It was really successful for both of them. You basically pay to go to a venue (like a party with a bar) and there are tables with girls one side and boys the other (I think) - you have pads to write the name of the person, and you can tick for 'no' 'friend' or 'romance'. Then you get a stream of men coming to talk to you for a set amount of time (ten minutes? 15?) and then the next one arrives etc etc. At the end you can either hook up at the bar or go home or hang out with your friends (if you've come with friends). Later you are sent or emailed the names of all the men who ticked you for love or friendship. There are no details exchanged (eg email or phone nos) until you agree to it, so you won't get stalked by loony strangers. Both girls I knew had a great time and a huge ego boost as men tend to tick a LOT of boxes! (not saying you're not irresistible Salt - both the women I'm talking about are very attractive.) The Sunday Times personals also found one of my friends a husband quite recently - a wealthy farmer with a huge house in the country - and she was a single mother too.

Ok... well, mine was slightly different from Alohas

I live in the Beds/Bucks area but chose one in London as went with a male friend from London. I used www.speeddater.co.uk.

It was a very swanky bar, nicely lit etc... you have 3 minutes wuth each guy and then the guys rotate and you can only choose yes or no. I put a lot of ?'s but when it came to adding my ticks I was brutal entered my 'maybes' as 'no'.

I got 14 ticks (out of 23 men) and I ticked 5 out of 5 I got 3 matches... My 3 favourites too so I was quite pleased.

Was a good mix of people and got to talk to loads of girls as well as the blokes so it ended up being a real laugh.

Ps. It's nothing like they show on Hollyoaks

OutOfPractice, I would definitely go... I'll go with you if you like. It's so much fun, even if you don't like any of them... how often do you get to meet 25 really friendly (and mostly rich) strangers in a couple of hours, it's great.

Weird. It wasn't like that in my day! So are you going out on a proper date with any of them?

possibly, Wouldn't mind going for a drink with the all of the 3 I got matched with... they were all very different people.

Had a rather strange night in the end - people kept buying me stuff, it was very odd. My luck didn't hold until my blind date though (unfortunately)

Salt, Thanks - actually I will go if you go too. Will you give me a call if I ask Techie to pass on my mobile no? I am too embarrassed to email about this from work.

OutOfPractice, I'll mail you through the contact a talker... I'll do it now but you probably won't get it until tomorrow.

I am happy to have an excuse to go again!!

Ooh this is so exciting!

Mumsnet dating club.. cna all we marrieds follow your adventures? Grass is always greener!

More than welcome to foolow my adventures...

Wanna hear about my blind date too?

it was speed dating Thursday and a blind date Friday!!

follow (even)

yes yes - what did you do? drinks? cinema? what did you wear? who paid?

It was a guy one of my friends works with, he wasn't what I expected (had in my imagination this tall, athletic, hunk). We went to a local bar in town, he paid and I wore...

...a cream low cut Lambswool jumper from Coast (v faminine) a pair of brown wool wide legged trousers with a wide cream check on them and my tobacco brown nine west boots... thought it was middle of the road.

and instead of the hunk I had imagined I got...

...a reasonably tall, average, non descript guy who looked older than he was and had ears that were too large for his head. All of that could have been forgiven if he had been funny but, alas, he wasn't!

hmmm bum - next time dont imagine!

I'll try not to... hopefully going for a drink (maybe necxt week) with one of the guys I met speed dating...

...Shall I start a 'Salts "wonderful world of dating" diary' thread

yes yes!!

Ok will start it now and explain to everyone else and then you can all follow me through the peaks and troughs of the dating game...

...perhaps I should just keep it all a secret and be the next Helen Fielding!

Salt, I am cheered to hear that your date was so nondescript, and it is not just me. I'd say about 9/10 are like that. The gloomiest part is paying £30 for a babysitter in order to meet someone like that. At least speed dating would have economies of scale in babysitting! On the other hand, occasionally the man is nice and interesting, even if you don't fancy him, and you can have a really enjoyable conversation - even though you never want to see him again and £30 is still a bit steep, esp when it never occurs to him to offer to pay because he is not clever enough to realise you have paid for a babysitter. Actually, the gloomiest part is when he starts asking questions about your job and life and says, "Oh, you must be clever then," as if it is a terrible disappointment to him. Perhaps you are right, that we should not really expect to meet anyone great, but just put it down to experience that we can one day write a book about!