Ego Crushin'

Tonight five girls were on a mission, to meet the man of our dreams. Location: Firefly at the Old Bailey. Activity: speed dating. Ok. So we knew it wasn’t going to be great, but Catherine  and I have done speed dating before and found it quite fun. This time the geek factor was a little higher. I was armed with a couple of great questions to separate the men from the boys: What would you do with a million pounds? And, what would be your ideal holiday? From these questions I figured I could find the men with generous and adventurous spirits. The problem was there were few men that I actually wanted to ask the questions to. 

Exhibit A, was quite nice to look at, but a bit too body builder looking to me. A trader – good job – but the conversation started off poor and went south. I asked most the questions and received very short answers. There were long periods of silence. I was relieved for the bell to go. A big "no" against him, but later in the night I was rather amused to discover the other four girls had all put a very big yes next to him.

Guy number two was friend to exhibit A. With a name of Colin, he had a big cross next to him before we even started, but I enjoyed a nice chat and with dark features and a very cute German accent I was inclined to give him a yes. It was a good start... But then went downhill rapidly. 

There were the standard geeks and a few “interesting” guys that seemed to be putting on an entertaining performance to see if they could get through three minutes without revealing anything. As a former reporter – who knows how to elicit answers - I became rather frustrated and pointed out to one, that maybe he was creating this persona because he feels the real person isn’t interesting enough. He agreed. Harsh I know.

Afterwards the cute guys from the beginning of the night joined us at the table. As we teased about what we had written on the cards, I delivered an ego crush, highlighting to body builder boy that he had a no. Of course his next response was he had only put a yes against me. Yeah, right.

We soon made an exit with a couple of the geekier guys in toe. But our cab trip to a nearby bar, the very funky Abacus bar, ended in disaster. With umbrella in hand and purse in the other, I lean forward to pay the cab, hop out and promptly realise my bag isn’t under my arm. But it is too late – the cab has driven off. Lost – two pairs of prescription glasses including sunglasses (£500), ipod (£100), passport (can’t get back into the UK without it) and work phone.

What a shit night. But Catherine, keen not to have her night soured, pulled me into line. "This is shit, but we gain nothing from ending the night and going home to mope around". She was right. I had my purse and my personal mobile was at home. It could be worse. 

So we continued drinking. Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow. Catherine on the other hand, does not. I thought yaga bombs would be a good idea. Fortunately Catherine was switched on enough to steel them away from me. When one of the girls declared she was taking the last train home, I joined her. At home, I did the necessary chasing of lost items and cancelled phone numbers, stripped my make-up and jumped into my brightly coloured PJs. Ahh bed.