Suzanne Portnoy

Most of my friends have been talking about this article from yesterday’s Sunday Times about a woman who went on 125 dates before she met ‘the one.’ If you haven’t read it, it’s very brief and not very enlightening but makes some valid points about all the stuff we gals have to do these days to stay one step ahead of the hot twenty-somethings who are trying to bag Mr. Middle-Aged, Divorced and Still Has Money Guy.

In my opinion, and as the writer points out, at 45+ it’s all a numbers game. Boring and tedious as it may be, you have to kiss a hell of a lot of frogs before you meet a prince. Not just a pond full but a lake full of frogs. Unlike the days of my youth, internet dating is perhaps the only place to meet all the frogs. I haven’t been to a dinner party since about 1995 and none of my friends know any single men as they are all single too. Middle-aged guys that hang out in bars are, frankly, alcoholics and best avoided. I suppose there might be a few down at the local gym but as I haven’t entered that cathedral of sweat for some time, I wouldn’t really know.

As well as hitting the numbers (and we’re talking 3 dates a week minimum), one must keep up in the looks department. This means lots and lots of grooming. Anyone who has been following this blog knows that it used to take me 2 days before I was ready to go out on a Friday night. That’s two days of shaving, nail polishing, hair setting and teasing, clothes choosing and all to ensure that I felt absolutely fabulous when I finally left my house. Mind you, it takes me 3 hours to get ready to go to work in the morning so perhaps I’m just particularly fastidious when it comes to my looks.

On the other hand, one can just forget the whole damn thing, find a few f*** buddies, and perhaps one of them might eventually turn into something special. Well, it’s a thought now, isn’t it?