Once more unto the breach

One thing to know about this single girl in London is that I am normal. I am average looking, I have an average IQ; I have bad habits and faults. I’m not afraid to admit it. I do not, in short, have the looks of Angelina Jolie or the delusional self-confidence of certain Daily Mail columnists.

What I do have, as so many girls do, is the belief that one day I may meet a man who I would like to spend more than just a little time with. Someone I may even wish to live with, perhaps even marry and live the modern day happily ever after with.

*Not to be confused with the traditional happy ever after, the modern day version includes discovering an affair via a social network, a mudslinging custody battle, a harrowing divorce before starting all over again, this time armed with a therapist. Not that I am a pessimist.

After the end of my last relationship a colleague suggested that internet dating might be a fun way of meeting new people and if nothing else would pull me out of the breakup slump I was in danger of remaining in.

And so I kissed goodbye to £29.99, a little bit of self-respect, and signed into one of the more popular dating sites.

What follows is the harrowing tale of a single girl in London…