The Final Taboo

The General Election has finally been called here in the UK, and now it's time for me to start doing some campaigning of my own.

At the beginning of the year I said I would try anything once in my search for my Perfect 10.  With this in mind I’m going to dip my toe in the murky pool of internet dating.

To many people internet dating is still seen as one of the last dating taboos and the preserve of the more socially inept losers out there in Singlesville. I have to admit, rather judgementally, that I subscribe to this line of thought, and I agree with the common belief that internet matchmaking websites are like dating graveyards.

I am of course talking from a position of total ignorance.  But surely these depressing places must be inhabited by sad and desperate mingers masquerading as someone altogether more attractive?  You know, people who use a photoshopped picture of an overly coiffed David Hasselhoff for their profile picture.

I’m probably being unfair, but it’s got to be a last resort if you have to look for a partner online, hasn’t it?

I know, I know, this isn’t strictly true, and I do know a few people who have signed up to various online dating websites with successful results. However there is still a part of me that doesn’t want to admit that I’m giving it a try.

In my eyes internet dating is still tarnished with the stigma that you really must have exhausted all the other options of finding a bloke.  It can't be good if you have to resort to spending hours on the internet, cruising pictures of men sporting Borat-style mankinis in their dodgy holiday snaps.  That's before you even start to read their tedious profiles.

But, fortune favours the brave, and not being one to back away from a challenge I'm going to give it a whirl.

I’m going to tell a few of my close friends that I’m signing up to the world of internet matchmaking heaven so I can get a bit of moral support.  I'm also going to get them to check out any potential finds so I can have a second opinion.

You know, things like: He looks like a serial killer.
Or: I've dated him already and he has rabies. 

My best friend Louise is already signed up with Match and has been out on a few fairly successful dates, so this is the one I decide to plump for. 

I've paid my registration fee and I’m ready to go.

Well, just not yet.  I have to carefully craft my profile and hone my weirdo-rader first...