Up close and personals: Nina Campbell, 30, lawyer
I'm getting to the age where most of my friends are either in long-term relationships or getting married, and here am I, perpetually single. I'm still young and not in a hurry to settle down, but it would be nice to meet the right man.
I've been dating online on and off for a few years now. I met someone on the site who I had a one-year relationship with. He is Belgian and looked gorgeous in his pictures: blond hair, blue eyes, surfer type. We made arrangements to go on a date the next day in Notting Hill. He didn't look like he did in his picture – he was actually better in real life. We spent the whole night talking about our lives and experiences and it just felt very different to your average date. He was a writer working on his first novel, he was well travelled and charming. It wasn't love at first sight, but there was a real chemistry between us. We broke up a year ago because we felt our lives were going in different directions and he wasn't ready to commit to our relationship. We're still friends now.
I went on another date two weeks ago. He had suggested we meet at a pub in Covent Garden. As soon as I walked in, I knew why he wanted to meet there: Celtic were playing on a huge TV. After 10 minutes, I told him I was going to leave. He looked sheepish and suggested we go elsewhere, so we went to another bar. He spent the night talking about previous conquests: affairs he'd had with a married woman and colleagues from work – he managed to paint an awful picture of himself. He also kept leaning over to tell me how he'd love to be having his way with me. It was a nightmare.
Another guy I dated was 40 and a teacher. We chatted online for a few weeks and eventually met at a fancy hotel bar. He was handsome and I was mesmerised. He kept cancelling our next date and eventually called to say he wasn't going to date for a while. A few days later, I got a text from an unknown telephone number – it was his fiancée asking if I had been seeing him. We spoke on the phone and she understood that I had no idea he was engaged. I felt sorry for her, but relieved to have escaped the potential mess early on.
I've been on enough dates to know there are many potential "perfect matches" for me. I'd like to meet someone who's challenging, charismatic and tall: someone like Jeremy Paxman – he's my ideal man.
To contact Nina, go to dating.theguardian.com (profile name: shepaintsthetownred).
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