Speed Dating - A Girls Experience

We arrived at a trendy looking bar for our first experience of speed dating in London. Walking through the doors with a slight air of anxiousness, we were greeted at the door by two organisers. Taking our names, they gave us the essential equipment for the night: - a sticky label with our name on it to wear, a seat number, scorecard & pen - all you need for a night of serious dating!

Heading straight for the bar, we purchased our first couple of steadiers for the evening, something to calm the nerves and raise the confidence. Definitely needed when faced with an evening of meeting 10 single men and being forced to make small talk!

We positioned ourselves by the bar while waiting for others to arrive, with one eye on the door to check out the talent (and the competition) as they arrived. We spot a couple of potential single men together with some steep female competition. The guys start drinking as though its last orders to ease the nerves, while the girls nip to the ladies to check the hair and make-up. A few drinks in, a full house of singletons, and the organisers took to the mic to welcome their speed daters and give a brief overview of what was in store.

Then, the girls head to their seats armed with a full drink for support, whlile the guys are informed they have to do the leg work circulating the room. Before we know it, we've started the mission of meeting 10 strangers for an evening timed into 3 minute slots with a buzzer to keep everyone on their toes...

The Speed Dating Experience

So here is my experience of a night of speed dating men!

Date One- begins with 'Hi, I see your name is... mine is...'. The conversation progresses to jobs, university, locations, holidays etc. All pretty easy going and no awkward pauses before the buzzer sounded, and off he went to his next date.

Date Two- Tom, well spoken, well dressed popular guy. Definitely fanciable. Date!

Date Three- Tom's mate, Ian, lived together, both blame each other for their appearance, claiming they were dragged along for moral support. Hmmm that old chestnut! Two housemates, should I tick them both? Who cares! Let them fight it out between them! Another Date!

Date Four- Richard, originally from Manchester, just moved to London and was hoping to find people to meet in his area. Mate.

Date Five- John, slightly eccentric. Not much in common. Ditch.

Date Six- Mark, city broker, well travelled, most definitely a ladies man. hhmm, ditch.

Date Seven- Dan, ching ching! Instant attraction and had a laugh chatting away, time went too quick. Definite Date! So hope he ticks me too!

Starting to flag, with distinct air of Ground Hog Day and counting how many more single men I have to meet. Can't believe I'm beginning to complain! This should be heaven, but it's just so tiring!

Date Eight- A Scottish guy who isn't enjoying speed dating and thinking about going home. Please do, I could do with a break! Ditch!

Date Nine- Two more to go, and it's clear the boys are getting more well oiled as each one approachs! James - slightly hyperactive bloke, tall, blond, cute, but no. Mate.

Date Ten- John - nice IT guy who obviously wanted to please and get on with every girl he met. Lots of smiling and agreeing with most things I had to say - how boring! Ditch.

And hooray, speed dating complete! All that remained was to hand back the scorecard, and decide whether to stick around the bar for another drink and more chatting or move on out.

Would I pay to go speeddating again? Probably. It was a fun evening, and how often do you get to meet 10 single men in one night?!

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