You've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.
This is the story of one woman dating 100 men in an effort to find Mr Right

What a marvel Internet dating is! I've now got a very exciting week ahead of me next week and I just don't know how I'm going to fit it all in. As well as my usual social whirl and my very interesting job wot I love, I'm being taken out for dinner by goregous Scouse Man no 7 on Tuesday, while Gere-tastic Man No 6 is cooking dinner for me at his house on Wedenesday and I've got a date with the yet-unmet Man No 8 on Friday.

Whaddya think of that all you doubters and predictors of doom and gloom?

I feel like a debutante or a film star - and I'm a 42-year-old ordinary bird! I was never single before Internet dating existed and from the poor pickings that seem to be avialable in real life, I've no idea how the human race has made it this far. I can now search the whole country for exactly the type of man I want to meet at the touch of a button - like shopping!

The similarity beween date surfing and doing your supermarket shopping from home is evident if a bit distasteful to point out, but the advantages of this relationship are enormous. While it's true that you can't squeeze the product to find out if it's fresh, you have to trust the description on the 'profile' and you never know what you're going to get, are unsure of exact sizes and can often receive a replacement product instead of the one you ordered, the sheer availabilty makes up for all of that.

If I had refused to resort to the Internet for this 'experiment' (which is really a genuine search for true love but expressed in with an interesting angle :-) I'd have had two dates so far - and one of them wouldn't have turned up! It would be a very dull blog indeed - and the chances of finding someone would have been so low, that I'd probably have given up.

So hooray for sites with shelves packed with men (and women) of all shapes and sizes and hip hip hooray for being able to pick and choose.

Being single is ace.

You've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.
This is the story of one woman dating 100 men in an effort to find Mr Right

I met man number 7 in a bar around the corner from my house as he lives in the next town. He’s a ‘fat’* Scouser.

That might sound bad to you but, to me, it’s not. I’m in touch with what I really find attractive, rather than what the media says I should find attractive (if you’ll forgive me a short bout of shallowness with the Richard Gere escapade, that is) and fat Scousers come under the ‘attractive’ umbrella for me.

He’s over 6ft tall and bulky and muscly and I felt really small standing next to him. I’m tall for a girl so it makes a change and I felt quite feminine.

I know, I know, physicality isn’t everything! But we both talked so much all night with no space for breath. There are a lot of donkeys around here dragging themselves about by their front legs, I can tell you.

He was a complete gentleman and extreeeeeeeemly sexy, with gorgeous eyes. When he talked to me he held my gaze in such a steady and intense way that I thought I was going to fall off my chair.

We didn't kiss goodnight but it was my fault. I wanted to. Maybe it's a good thing.

And – get this – sent me a text after the date saying: “I had a great time and will have a great time next time we go out!” We hadn’t even mentioned a next time – but how confident and self assured is that! Blimey, pass me the smelling salts!

That was Sunday. He stuck to the three-day rule (men!) and texted me today asking when we’re going out next but said he was busy this weekend. I have it all in perspective though and am arranging Man number 8 as we speak. After all, if you land a good job, and someone else asks you to go in for an interview you don’t turn them down. Got to keep my options open (keeps me calm).

So, after the downside to Internet dating in my last post, this is the upside. Also, have now forged a great friendship with man number 3 (who now has a girlfriend) and we went out last night and I laughed until my sides hurt. I almost told him about this blog but then I remembered that I've slagged him off on here for being tight with money. Oops.

So meeting men on the internet isn’t all bad – in fact the good far outweighs the bad as far as I’m concerned.

* fat (ft) n 1: Any body with more flesh than is illustrated in the media ideal. 2: Something to get your hands on.

You've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.
This is the story of one woman dating 100 men in an effort to find Mr Right

OK. The lead up to finding number seven was a bit weird - there was the pathetic miserable one that loathed wuffas and then then next guy got possessive and angry before we'd even met!

My friends always warn me (and, funnily enough, it's always my male friends that warn me) of the dangers of T'internet dating. My friend's husband even said: "You'll get some weirdo who will drag you down an alley and brick you to death." That sounds extreme but it did happen to one woman a few years ago in South London - and she was a doctor at a surgery just around the corner from where I lived, which makes it a bit creepy and close to home.

I'm pretty careful, safety wise, though and don't really worry too much. But I talked to a bloke on the phone for five minutes, got on ok and loosely arranged what I thought was going to be date with Man number 7. Then my friend Max phoned up and asked me to go camping in the Lake District for the weekend.

I phoned bloke and told him I had to cancel the date. Told him why and he actually offered to come camping with me and my friend (at the time I knew he was presuming my camping buddy was a girl and didn't know that Max is a 6ft 4in bloke). He was deadly serious and when I said no way, he tried to persuade me to let him come, asking questions about where we were going to be. I got a creepy cold hair on the back of my neck feeling about it - the word 'deadly' is right.

I decided to send him a polite 'Dear John' email when I got back on Monday. On Sunday I got a text saying: "I'm at home. Call me." I ignored it. Then Monday morning I got a text saying "Why didn't you ring me!?"

I ignored it.

Later that day, before I'd had a chance to email he rang me up and started shouting at me. "I was home last night and you didn't ring me. Why not? You said you'd be back from camping and I sat there waiting for you to ring like an idiot."

I almost spat my cup of coffee down my nose with the shock. He said: "Oh, never mind," and slammed the phone down. Then I recieved a spate of offensive emails and have had to block him from being able to contact me.

I'm a bit wary now and a little more discerning about who I carry on conversations with. It's freaked me out a bit and he knows what I look like and the area that I live in, so I'm still not feeling 100 per cent happy with the situation.

I know I've just confessed to loving all animals indiscrimiately, but he's one frog I'd like to step on and squish.

Ok, ok, I'll tell you about date number seven next!

You've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.
This is the story of one woman dating 100 men in an effort to find Mr Right

I rather liked number seven. :-)

You've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.
This is the story of one woman dating 100 men in an effort to find Mr Right

I've had trouble finding Man number 7. I did attempt to make a date with someone from my regular dating site and we spoke on the phone and he seemed nice. But then he told me that he hates dogs. Now, I'm very suspicious of people who don't like animals - and I should have certainly added this to my list of essential qualities, but I forgot. EVERY single person I've ever met who doesn't like animals, even a person I was friends with for 12 years, has turned out to be fundamentally cold and selfish - with a secret internal hatred of people as well (after all, what are we but animals?) So, in a potential partner, a hatred of of animals - even if it's just one species, is out of the question for me.

Besides, I have a dog.

And there is a picture of my dog on my profile - so why a dog hater would contact me in the first place is beyond me.

Just to add a little evidence to what I've already built up in my head about animal-haters, this potential Man number 7 reacted very strangely to me telling him I couldn't go out with him. Here are our last two messages to each other. Remember that I've never met this man and I spoke to him on the phone only twice (the second time we spoke he rang me when I was with my dad and I couldn't talk).

I said to him:

"I should tell you now that I really did enjoy talking to you last week but can't even contemplate being with someone who doesn't like dogs or who is afraid of dogs. My dog is a huge part of my life. I've been out with someone before who didn't like my dog and it just didn't work out well at all! She lives in the house, sleeps in the bedroom and gets on the furniture and is... well... more entitled to be in the room than a visitor! My ex wanted me to lock her outside. Of course, it ended up with him being locked outside :-)

Anyway - I'll leave it now. Sorry. Take care of yourself and I hope you find someone."

His reply was titled: Fine, but why make up the dog story.

"Me thinks the woman does protest too much. What does irk is the obvious lie about the dog. I thought that I would like to meet you. Then last Saturday's phone call made me realise that you had lost interest. To use the dog as an excuse now is unnecessary and rather pathetic. I would just be honest next time.

I have seen how shallow you can be and I have no hestitation in saying that I have leaned far more about you than you have about me."

Weird attack for no reason! I was being completely honest and I thought he was nice other than the dog thing. I'm glad I didn't go out with him - so defensive. Why would he presume it was a lie - especially when there's a pic of my dog on my profile!

Just goes to show. Avoid animal haters at all costs.

I promised myself I wouldn't slag anyone off on here, but to hell with it. The man is a tosser. :-P

You've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.
This is the story of one woman dating 100 men in an effort to find Mr Right

Ha ha ha! You're so right Lala. After peering into the future, I honestly don't think I would like to stare across a table at his mush, you know. He's a bit old for me - he doesn't want to do anything but go out for dinner, isn't up for getting pissed and has never touched anything stronger than 'a nice full-bodied red wine' in his life. What are we going to do - go out to eat every time we meet? What about just having a piece of toast or a bowl of cornflakes and then going out to get plastered?

I'm sorry, but I'm not changing my perpetual teen lifestyle for anyone - even if I am in my 40s!

I reckon it was my hormones that made me see him as a sex god - sodding things.

Don't buy your hat yet, Lala. I'm really enjoying being single at the moment and am beginning to think I'm subconsciously choosing blokes that will keep me that way. In fact, I can't even be bothered to set up a date with man number 7 and haven't even chosen him from a group I've got stashed away in my cellar - erm... I mean my computer. Sorry, that comes from my old work mates saying that my house has got loads of abandoned and rusting pizza delivery bikes piled up outside as they accused me of dragging the pizza men inside and locking them in my cellar and forcing them to do unnatural acts.

It's not true, of course. I don't like pizza. They're all from the kebab house.