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Relationships

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

Might have scared a guy away

203 replies

StellaStreet · 31/05/2022 23:57

Hi

I'm F30, he's M48 or so. We've known each other for a few years but have got close over the past 12 months, but I think I might have messed things up. I don't know if I should have bothered showing interest in the first place. Sorry for such a long post, but this guy is so unusual and different to other men that he needs describing as well as I can.

We know each other at the gym. He looks fantastic, a lot like Daniel Craig getting out of the sea in Casino Royale – I've seen him chopping the trees in his garden in just his shorts. I also notice that he's stronger than most of the guys much younger than him at the gym. He dresses well, he's well-groomed, nothing out of place. Me, I look after myself, I also exercise a lot, and am pretty athletic and toned. He carries himself well, good posture, and I notice that he's dominant among others at the gym – the other guys move out of his way as he walks around the kit, he has that physical presence. He talks to a few people there, and I see that he's very charming with people and they seem to like him. To look at him, you'd think he was getting dozens of women into his bed, but...

He doesn't socialise, as in at all. He told me that he has no family, never married, no brothers or sisters, his parents died years ago, and doesn't do anything with his relatives. He says that he'd tried to create a relationship with them after his folks had died, but he and they found that they had so little in common that there was hardly any point, so neither he nor they keep in touch. He also won't talk about his parents or his childhood – he'll quickly change the subject with little fuss to something else.

As far as friends go, he says he has them, but I've never seen him with any on his FB feed. He does sometimes have comments on his posts, but it's very rare, and they're almost always from the same few women. Men hardly ever comment on anything he writes. He goes everywhere alone, except for protests, where he usually has the same women around him, and they all look pretty happy. He protests for a cause he's passionate about – and writes about on FB – and it's something I'm also in full agreement with. It's mostly how we got to know each other and bonded.

I see from his FB that he does visit places, and he likes history and the arts, but again, he goes everywhere alone. He took himself off for the day on his birthday last year, and I was a bit shocked when he told me that no, he hadn't gone with anyone, and that celebrating his birthday with people wasn't something he did. He wasn't upset by it, just said it as a matter of fact.

He also doesn't like sport, at least he doesn't write about it on FB and he's never spoken to me about it. He reads a hell of a lot – politics, history, philosophy, psychology, economics, artificial intelligence – and writes short reviews about them on FB.

I've never seen him in any of the pubs or bars in our small town. Nobody we both know has told me they've seen him anywhere, but I see he sometimes posts that he's sometimes at different pubs in the afternoon. So, he has no social life.

We did have great chemistry, and I love being around him. I'd tease him quite harshly, and he'd do the same back. We both know there's no malice in it. We'd also flirt quite a bit. I think he might have asked me out when he said he wanted to show me some mansion and gardens nearby – it might be where he works as a researcher. He told me he dealt a lot with various professors and other people. I'd told him I'd like to, but when he tried to arrange a date, I had to tell him it wasn't convenient. I brought it up again a few weeks later, and again he tried to arrange, but I couldn't then either. He's not mentioned it since. He's gone quiet on me after that.

I did check out his car in the gym car park to see if he had a child seat in it, or women's clothing. I think he might have seen me do it as he was on one of the treadmills overlooking it at the time. I also used to live near him, so I could see when he was at home or not, and I'd told him I knew when he was in, and how often I could see he was away.

There are so few single men like him who have the same beliefs as we do on our cause, and ever less men who look as good as him. He's got a good sense of humour, and I notice that he laughs at things he's read on his phone, so he enjoys reading comments and responding to them. But he doesn't give me much. It's as if there's a wall. He wrote some time ago that he wishes people would realise that as far as people are concerned, he's seen and heard it all repeatedly – he also mentions stoicism. He has that expression of a half smile when people talk to him, and nothing seems to faze him.

I'd like to do something with him, but there's so little going on with him, and apart from our mutual cause, we've very little in common. It's as though he's got so little to give to people, or that he doesn't care that much about them. I see he cares a lot about wildlife, and he writes about the hedgehogs in his garden. I'm from a large family, but he has none. Am I wasting my time with him?

OP posts:
SunshineAndFizz · 02/06/2022 08:02

There are a lot of red flags here. He's not relationship material.

Find someone who can make meaningful relationships with people, this man won't give you what you want.

Idontgiveagriffindamn · 02/06/2022 08:11

Not sure why people are pulling this man to shreds on this thread. He’s literally done nothing wrong.
On the other hand the OP sounds a bit stalkerish.

KettrickenSmiled · 02/06/2022 08:28

Not sure why people are pulling this man to shreds on this thread. He’s literally done nothing wrong.

Depends on how you define "wrong" I suppose. Being an insufferable twat isn't illegal - but it's still insufferable.

ahunf · 02/06/2022 09:28

How do you know he likes you?

You sound vain, dramatic and like the sound of your own voice.

LadyFlumpalot · 02/06/2022 10:13

manova366 · 02/06/2022 03:02

Ah, the old "My Facebook posts are so intellectual that university lecturers tell me I should do a PhD, but I don't believe in the university system so I'm writing a book instead".

OP, people WILL build up a picture of this bloke based on your character sketches, but it's what you think of him that's important. If you like him and are attracted to him, just ask him out.

But I think people are genuinely trying to encourage you not to put him on a pedestal, which is a good principle for any woman evaluating a man she's interested in.

Oh god, I worked with one of these. Apparently his twitter rants on politics were soooooo insightful that Oxford offered him a place to read politics. He turned them down though as he didn't want to be bound by "the man".

Summersdreaming · 02/06/2022 10:20

Your second post is all about him, again, and no insight into your own behaviour..

Having a 50 shades/Christian Grey thing going on is fine if that's what you are into, and you'd easily find someone on a dating site dedicated to dom/sub. Yet you go after unavailable and married men instead 🤔

Aprilx · 02/06/2022 10:34

All you seem to care about is looks and his social life. And you haven’t “scared him off”, he invited you to something twice, twice you said no, he hasn’t asked a third time, nobody would.

PonyPatter44 · 02/06/2022 10:39

Conspiracy theorist, faux-intellectual, autodidact, no actual friends, muscle.... I would say its a good bet that hes done time, OP. Pursue him if you like, but be very careful.

EmmaH2022 · 02/06/2022 10:55

OP
I don't understand why it's taken so much text to describe someone who sounds like a pretty common or garden person except with a super hot body.

you may be projecting a lot on to him that just isn't there. And you like "teasing"?

you're looking for a psych experiment and you're just annoyed you can't "figure this one out". Ugh.

decayingmatter · 02/06/2022 10:58

He just sounds like a boring middle aged man with no mates and a tin pot life. Your flowery descriptions are very irritating.

Also, you sound absolutely terrifying. If someone was gathering data about me the way that you are with him, I would genuinely call the police. Stop it.

lostinwoods · 02/06/2022 11:11

Some of your behaviors sound pretty stalker-ish.

He sounds a bit arrogant and you seem to put him on pedestal.

Do you know if any of the things he told you about himself are actually true?

Idontgiveagriffindamn · 02/06/2022 11:14

But how do we know he’s an insufferable twat? Cos he posts reviews of books and the like on Facebook? Cos he goes places alone? He just seems to have different interests to a lot of people. Surely it’s better than going out and getting pissed every night?

ValerieCupcake · 02/06/2022 11:41

sammylady37 · 02/06/2022 07:08

He seems happy in his own world, and it looks like he is an intellectual, and not a "faux-intellectual". People respond positively to some of the things he writes, and a couple of women do comment on some of his book reviews. One of them is someone he's told me about, one of his oldest friends. She's apparently a senior lecturer at a university somewhere, and he tells me she's been trying to convince him to do his doctorate, as has his boss. He tells me he's not that interested because of, well, the university system, but he'd like to write a book instead

this is hilarious, I can’t believe you’re falling for this bullshit. A true intellectual who rejects the university system but posts his musings on Facebook instead… can you really not see through this?

Adrian Mole aged 48 and three quarters

TheWayoftheLeaf · 02/06/2022 12:08

Is the mutual cause anti-vaxx by any chance OP?

EmmaH2022 · 02/06/2022 13:14

I found the OP hard to read but have just realised how stalkerish some of this is. Yikes.

For some reason, I think the "cause" is Extinction Rebellion.

StellaStreet · 02/06/2022 15:03

Idontgiveagriffindamn · 02/06/2022 11:14

But how do we know he’s an insufferable twat? Cos he posts reviews of books and the like on Facebook? Cos he goes places alone? He just seems to have different interests to a lot of people. Surely it’s better than going out and getting pissed every night?

None of you have met him, and I should've taken the chance of accepting his invite. He does things alone, and looking at the replies, I can't blame him for steering clear of women. Likely this is all he's seen. He told me once that he had been in a socials group but left because of the drinking and the fakeness. He also doesn't like it when he sees women his age act 'like a pack of hyenas'. He says the most important thing he'll cherish is his peace.

OP posts:
KettrickenSmiled · 02/06/2022 15:05

Well off you trot & date him then.
You have so much in common already, & he's going to be tremendous value in reinforcing your internalised misogyny.

FlissyPaps · 02/06/2022 15:15

Just ask him out FFS.

Spaceprincess · 02/06/2022 15:16

He's setting off my bell-end bell, never mind my gaydar...
Go on a date with him but he sounds awful. Be prepared to be talked at for hours.
Has made me feel grateful for my sociable chubby bf tho.

Calphurnia88 · 02/06/2022 15:30

KettrickenSmiled · 02/06/2022 15:05

Well off you trot & date him then.
You have so much in common already, & he's going to be tremendous value in reinforcing your internalised misogyny.

👏

EmmaH2022 · 02/06/2022 15:50

Spaceprincess · 02/06/2022 15:16

He's setting off my bell-end bell, never mind my gaydar...
Go on a date with him but he sounds awful. Be prepared to be talked at for hours.
Has made me feel grateful for my sociable chubby bf tho.

I think you'll get a no after you didn't get yourself organised after he asked you twice.

but then again, I think he sounds like a regular person (bar the demos). I'm not a fan of Facebook but it takes all sorts.

must be lovely to work in a historic setting - well, I've done it as a volunteer and it was lovely. Hell, I even have a book about stoicism! 😂 So he sounds fine and your description is what we are getting.

PriestessofPing · 02/06/2022 16:09

You posted a long list of behaviours from him OP that you interpreted in a certain (favourable) light. Others didn’t see it the same way and also pointed out you are acting really strangely and coming off somewhat stalkery.

At the end of the day if you think he’s so marvellous just ask him on a date. If he says no you have your answer. Why are you waiting on him?

LadyOfTheCanyon · 02/06/2022 16:25

Has never had a relationship despite being incredibly hot and Intellectual - CHECK!

Hates "Fakeness" -CHECK!

Thinks "Deep thoughts" - CHECK!

Thinks women "Act like packs of Hyaenas" - CHECK!

Is potentially a Flat Earther or Anti Vaxxer- CHECK!

Is a world beating intellect but prefers to publish said "Deep thoughts" on that highly esteemed Bastion of Free Thought, Facebook- CHECK!

Rip up your cards ladies, I'm heading for a Full House!

FlowerDee · 02/06/2022 16:41

This post is so bloody weird, it’s actually awesome 😂

Getting some really weird vibes from the intensity of OP’s ardour and idolisation!!

MissNothing1991 · 02/06/2022 16:52

StellaStreet · 02/06/2022 15:03

None of you have met him, and I should've taken the chance of accepting his invite. He does things alone, and looking at the replies, I can't blame him for steering clear of women. Likely this is all he's seen. He told me once that he had been in a socials group but left because of the drinking and the fakeness. He also doesn't like it when he sees women his age act 'like a pack of hyenas'. He says the most important thing he'll cherish is his peace.

You say you can see why he steers clear of women due to the replies... is that because the replies imply you're a stalking weirdo? Because no offence, I'm sure he'd agree with half the replies and would steer clear of women because he recently gained a stalker ffs

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