7 Dec 2024
Dating in the City: Being a kid in a candy shop
Community Dating Expat Dating Lifestyle

Dating in the City: Being a kid in a candy shop

Refreshingly straightforward, too creepy – or markedly morish? This week Stockholm single gal and expat extraordinaire Claire Duffy takes on the roller coaster ride of the online dating scene.

girl-computer-internet-dating

Having realized that the bar scene was getting me precisely nowhere, I’ve decided to give internet dating a go. I’m not without misgivings: I tried online dating years ago in London when it was first all the rage, and my most successful date was the one with the guy who referred to his mother as “mummy” and I accidentally got so drunk I tried to climb up some stairs that weren’t there. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

It’s brilliant. It’s basically like being single in general – fun, brutal, absurd – but turbo charged. Over a year of being single, I might come across, be interested in, or be approached by, let’s say 10 men (actually that’s ridiculously optimistic, but let’s pretend). Maybe half of them will be weirdos/geriatric/married, half of those that remain might be worth a quick chat but it fizzles into nothing, one or two like me but I’m not feeling it, one or two I like but they’re inexplicably immune to my charms, and – okay, this is why I’m a writer and not a mathematician, because I’m fairly sure I’ve run out of men at this point, but bear with me – at most one will be both interesting and interested.

It’s just like that on a dating site, except that all happens in about an hour. You’re on a high speed rollercoaster of “ooh, that was a lovely message!”, “ahh, he didn’t reply?”, “eww, creepy – delete”, “hmm, he’s cute – message”, “oh, why did he look at my profile and not make contact?”, “woohoo, reply from the first one!”

One thing I particularly like about it is that it’s quite straightforward. We’re all single, we’re all looking, so there’s none of that having a lovely conversation with a cute guy when he suddenly mentions that his wife also likes the film we’re discussing. Or announcing to a platonic fika companion that you’re checking out someone hot at the next table, only to discover that he thought you were on a date. Or spending months hopelessly in love with a male friend, going for regular drinks that feel like the best date ever, only to be crushed, again, by a chaste hug at the end of the night.

It is, however, almost too straightforward. I’ve discovered that “so, what are you looking for?” is code for “are you up for a bit of naked shenanigans and no more?

Now, we’re all grown ups here and I’m far from adverse to the odd, ahem, kort-romans, but there’s something too clinical, for me, about establishing that in advance over email. There’s also the slightly more mature men who mention, in the very first message, that they don’t want any more children. To be fair, that’s useful information for a woman in her mid 30s to have before potentially starting to like a guy, but it still feels a little startling to be presented with it quite so abruptly.

There’s also a bit of a kid in a candy shop element to it. My first date was with a lovely French guy. Handsome, charming and clever, the conversation flowed easily and it was all quite interesting. We’ve seen each other a second time, and I’m open to seeing him more – but, if this was in normal circumstances (i.e. there was no one else on the horizon), I suspect I may well be in that early romance, lost in thought about him at inappropriate times, giddy when he texts sort of state.

But as it is, I catch myself checking to see if the Swedish guy who kayaks has replied when lovely French guy goes to the bathroom.

I wonder if I’m potentially letting something good pass me by, by being a bit greedy? Or is it healthy not to be overly giddy early on, and if or when I meet someone who makes me forget about all the others I’ll… well, forget about all the others?

In the meantime, Swedish guy who kayaks has just suggested a fika…

Claire Duffy

 

Claire is a writer and filmmaker originally from Scotland who moved to Stockholm in 2011 for no particular reason.  She is fond of snow, pickled things and very tall men, so it’s working out very well so far. 
claire

 

3 Comments

  • Perastikos 23 Jun 2013

    You are not greedy; welcome to the online dating world. During the fika, when you go to the bathroom, the Swedish kayak guy, will check if the girl who does aerobic classes has replied.

    Etc etc etc.

    Good luck to your new online adventure!

    • Claire 28 Jun 2013

      Haha thank you!

  • Blondin_bocca 30 Jun 2013

    Love hearing your dating adventures. Embarrassingly, I once compiled an excel spreadsheet of my dating exploits. It made for hilarious reading a few years down the track when I came across it again.

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