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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Let's Get Ready! It's Dating Thread 103

999 replies

DrFoxtrot · 19/04/2016 23:23

The Rules:

  1. The first rule about the dating thread is you don't talk about it with people you're dating.
  2. Develop a thick skin.
  3. Do not invest emotionally too soon.
  4. It's all BS until it actually happens.
  5. Trust your gut instinct.
  6. People vanishing, lying & being generally weird is not your fault.
  7. You are the prize-they should be trying to impress you.
  8. If it's not fun, stop.
  9. Loo update is mandatory.
10. No dating the thread. 11. Read Why Men Love Bitches (aka WMLB), and take from it what you will. 12. Don't serve up moose burgers on the first date (although this is still in debate right now) 13. Matthew Hussey also very useful. And very easy on the eye even if you don't find him any good. 14. IF THEY SAY THEY DON'T WANT A RELATIONSHIP, THEY DON'T WANT A RELATIONSHIP.
OP posts:
314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 11:29

Some people mock facebook wisdom but the simplicity of facebook wisdom has been helping me recently. If you walk away from somebody and they don't chase after you, keep walking. And Amy's '' no response is a response " help me feel better about what I thought was a difficult decision. Even a friendship needs reciprocity. Even friends need to be on the same page.

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 11:30

Hope nobody specifically needs this right now. I think it's just a good one, generally.

ocelot7 · 24/04/2016 11:47

314 I posted on fb... Can't bear to go through it again :( But potted version...

It was about as awful as it could be :(
He was there with a woman :(
a guy asked P (who I was with) where the band was & I realised it was M !!!! :( he acted like he didn't know me though we locked eyes :( P said he mustnt have seen metrying to be nice... Then when P & I went in M was peering over clearly looking for me Grr!

It was a TINY venue & there were only about 20 there at first, later 50-60... I thought it was ridiculous to ignore each other so I went to talk to him when she went to loo/bar ....I didn't have a plan what to say but I was nice - I would have really appreciated that if the roles were reversed but he was defensive & uptight... I said I wasn't getting at him (far from it!) & he said he'd thought I was...

Through all this I managed to appreciate that the band were wonderful.... But it was also a total nightmare I hoped to wake up from...

And he is going to the other gig tonight too :( I asked him.... Its a farewell tour so pls dont tell me not to go!

Surely nothing worse can happen now?

BTW P said I did really well - I think so too (& that I was much more rock & roll than her :) )

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 11:48

Sorry Ocelot. I turned off the fb notifications.

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 11:48

Brew Cake have a coffee Ocelot

ocelot7 · 24/04/2016 11:51

I'd prefer drugs! Happy making take the nightmare away drugs....

AnnaChronism · 24/04/2016 11:53

ashmts I find it easy to juggle irons but the work one is tricky. You said you weren't in the same department anymore is there any way you can bump into him at all?

ALaugh you said you had described your perfect man and realised it was your ex. There is an Amy Young clip on YouTube about dating against type. I'll try to find it.

How are you going with Tinder TooMuch?

Hello Scarlet this whole OLD thing is not as exciting as you might think.

I don't know enough about SAHP to comment Tanya but do you have any other irons?

314 don't write off the Jovencito date just yet. One of my friends met a men 20 years her junior OLD. She wrote it off too and now more than three years later they are still together and very happy so you never know,

Is there any update from Ocelot about the gig and M?

Oh last looked nothing like their photos is the OLD mantra isn't it? I know exactly how you feel.

Traffic I'm definitely not a catch, I'm just ordinary.

I'll update about my busy day yesterday.

AnnaChronism · 24/04/2016 11:56

ALaugh this one.

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 11:59

Ocelot, I'm not sure that this is in any way helpful but ime, men usually act defensively when they feel guilt.

Pushed down, choked back, long-forgotten, never acknowledged, he knows he didn't treat you as well as he could have done, he knows he hurt you. Rather than own his part in that, he has to give everything you do a negative interpretation.

Cos one thing he's clear of, he is a decent guy right?

.

It is a defence mechanism now, he needs to cast you in the role of an x who wont accept it's over, won't stop making him feel bad, rings him out of the blue, comes up to him when he's on a date! He has to give it all the most negative interpretation possible in order to carry on believing that he's a great decent guy. Cos if he gives YOU the benefit of the doubt, that threatens his own self perception!

He doesn't sound good enough for you. {gavel} as they say on mumsnet.

AnnaChronism · 24/04/2016 11:59

X-posted Ocelot.
For the gig tonight can you look great and rise above it? Pretend to be someone else for the night?

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 12:02

Ocelot. I think this is the salt in the wound. The eye of the storm.

I think you're going to move on more in this next ten days than you have done in the last 14 months. It stings like fuck now, but in about a fortnight, you are going to be so glad that you had your nose pushed back in to his socially awkward vomit.

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 12:02

No drugs! Just say no. :-p

ocelot7 · 24/04/2016 12:11

All I really wanted was a sleeping pill to get through last night with more than 3 hrs sleep.. :(

I will rise above tonight...thinking of devore semi see through top?!!
Friends are briefed for tonight & I'm going with P again & want him to have a fun night...with less of the cursing & stream of consciousness stuff than last night... :(

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 12:17

yes, game face on tonight. is it just you and P, or other people too?

I think this could be a positive thing for you. This feels like a big salty wound now but it'll be a catalyst for moving on from this invertebrate

ocelot7 · 24/04/2016 12:20

How I hope you are right 314

but I'm not up to coherent thought today..

Yeah - game face & cheeks full of kalms tonight ... :)

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 12:24

I am right. Cos now you know. Uncertainty was torture but it was giving you hope.

Now, all hope is gone. And it was awkward, and there were witnesses to the awkwardness. Like you say, it was bad.

But now it is a chapter that is behind you. You had a sense of it being an ongoing chapter.

This iron is stone cold. And you gave it to an iron monger, you has lost track of its whereabouts now.

AnnaChronism · 24/04/2016 12:49

Ocelot I don't know enough about M to comment but as 314 knows what she's talking about I'll just say what she said Grin
The devore top sounds perfect.

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 12:54

pain causes growth.

AnnaChronism · 24/04/2016 13:02

Yesterday for me.
Apologies for posting so much yesterday, it was a busy day. Thank you for your support everyone Flowers

Date 1 - 'doesn't like Muslims' Hmm I told him I wasn't going straight home after our date but he'd still sent me three messages before I got home. Then this morning before I was even awake he sent an angry message about me obviously not wanting to see him again. He's right of course but angry and racist? Bullet dodged.

Not wanting to waste my day out I sent another iron a message to ask whether he was about. He was so we hastily arranged date 2.

Date 2 - why do they lie? His profile says he's 5ft 9 but I'd being generous if I said he was 5ft 6. He was very good looking and nice to talk to but his size meant that I could never imagine sleeping with him.

314 please can I have a 'thanks but no thanks' text example again?

While waiting for date 2 to arrive my ex called to ask whether he wanted me to come over later. He would bring steak for dinner so I said yes to that.

Then while I was driving home from date 2 to the ex with meat Captain Pugwash sent me a text saying he was free if I wanted to go there for the evening. After two disappointing dates I would have been there like a shot if the ex hadn't been on his way to me.
When I last saw Pugwash on Thursday night we talked about his lack of messaging me so to have thought of me and sent a text is progress but I'm trying not to be a booty call for him.
When I messaged him back to say 'sorry I have plans' he was suitably contrite saying he should have been in touch sooner.

I must leave Pugwash well alone. It's not that he's bad I have a great time with him but when I drive away from him I always think 'I really must stop seeing him' and I'm not even sure why I feel like that.

I had a great evening with my ex but he's an ex for a reason and I don't have any plans to get back with him even though he'd like to.

So phew that's me.
I've got another iron who wants a date this week I'm just deciding when.

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 13:08

I don't know if I ever had a template text for that!

But I'm going to tell IXP29 that I'm cancelling our date because he's not what I'm looking for. We have already joked about this. He says I'm desperate for a world weary fifty year old with a ford mondeo. And.................................... maybe if I were a wilder person I'd say to hell with it and go out with him. But I want a man my own age. That IS what I want.

I have about 8 messages in my inbox now but I'm going out for lunch and then a long walk. I can't be bothered wading through men half my age twice my age and men who live in tampa florida why why why

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 13:10

Anna, for pugwash, I'd say ''the dates were fun!!!! but my heart isn't in it, good luck''.

Or something like that. More than he deserves.

I'd send him a text sayings sorry you're too short (especially if he's tall)

TrafficJunkie · 24/04/2016 13:44

anna sounds disappointing. Any more prospects yet? Captain Pugwash sounds confusing. :(
314 you seem a fountain of dating knowledge. Good to have you aboard the thread!
beaver has gone very quiet - he asked for my number to make chatting easier (thinly veiled) then he didn't text me!

314inTheSky · 24/04/2016 14:28

Ha ha ha traffic. I wasted 9 months by breaking rule 14.

I was still looking during that time but not with enough focus. I have to start following the rules.

IToldYouIWasFreaky · 24/04/2016 15:25

Sorry, this is going to be a "me, me, me" post but Bacon has just left and I need to get some things down.

So, we had a good time. He arrived at 7 last night, we went out for dinner, things were very sexually charged. Had a really good dinner, lots of flirting, great conversation. Taxi back to mine, straight to bed....and the sex was not great. Not going into great detail but nothing awful...just below expectation. Then this morning we mooched about the house for a bit, drinking lots of coffee and have LOTS of conversation about all kinds of things (some of which got quite deep) and then went for a walk and had breakfast out and walked back and he's just gone.

So apart from the sex, everything was great. Really great. We get on well, lots of laughter, lots to talk about. It's just easy being with him and it was nice having him in my house. He's an interesting person, I like how his mind works.

The sex thing worries me. This morning he got up before I did but we could have gone back to bed. We did talk about it (I initiated it...no head in the sand stuff here) and agreed there was something "off" but his view was that it was not a big deal, we'll have other opportunities and it's early days. Which is all true. I think we'd built it up a bit (lots of flirty/sexy banter during the week) and then rushed things a bit when we got back from dinner. Plus we were both a bit pissed. It would have been nice to have another go this morning but he wasn't really into the idea.

I'm not sure what my problem is or if I have one at all really! The good thing is that he wasn't just after sex, he was clearly here for the duration and sees this as early days in something bigger, which is reassuring. I guess part of me doesn't feel...well, fanciable, I suppose which is daft cos I know he does fancy me.

Also, we're not now going to see each other for two weeks Sad as I'm away next weekend, so I'm a little concerned about things cooling during that time. But he's not. He said something along the lines of "it'll go quickly, you have your busy life and I'm not going anywhere" to which I blurted "promise?" and he said "yeah, of course not!"

I think he's just a bit more sure of things than I am. He's being very sensible and a two week absence at this stage of...whatever...is nothing really. It's just my brain having a little freak out. But he's good for me in that respect...this morning reminding me to go with the flow and accept things for what they are, which I really need to hear sometimes. I just need to be careful not to be too needy with him.

If we'd have had amazing sex last night, I'd be over the moon right now. As it is, I'm still smitten and I'm really reassured by his behaviour generally, I'm just a bit...I dunno...worried maybe. But the sex can come good in time, right? (scuse the pun!)

TrafficJunkie · 24/04/2016 16:06

I think you can't make any judgments based on the first time having sex with someone. I've had some awful first sex sessions. They always turned out all right in the end, some of them. Some of them did not. But it sounds like you click in all the other ways. Definitely just sounds like you built it up a bit too much. Worth a few more tries I'd say 😜