Dating in the 21st century feels at times akin to wandering blithely across a live minefield, blindfolded.
The potential pitfalls, embarrassments and jeopardy involved are simply innumerable, and frankly it's a surprise that more people don't simply denounce the whole institution and go to live in happy isolation in a forest somewhere.
In the past - one imagines - dating was a far simpler affair. Though it might seem convenient to merely swipe left and right to make decisions over potential love interests, it is undeniably a rather cosmetic approach. Gone are the days of romantic letters, of actual face-to-face meet cutes, replaced instead by an extended toilet break to swipe furiously across a phone screen.
Of course, I sound outmoded, and many would consider my views decidedly archaic, flying in the face as they do of modern technological advancements and societal changes. When miracles do happen, though, and two people actually meet up to go on a date together, the jeopardy is still not over, as these frankly bizarre texts that people received after going on a date will surely attest.
1. Let's kick off with a nice one...
2. And then immediately take a turn for the worse
3. Doesn't seem very fair
4. Giving men a bad name
5. Modern dating can be somewhat cut-throat
6. Just mates, yeah?
7. That's... That's a bit much
8. Why would anyone do that?
9. Actually a brilliant follow up text, that
10. I think that means he likes you?
11. "Private pictures" is such a weird phrase
12. Er, thanks?
13. Yeah, but seriously, /10?
14. Does this mean we're not going for a second date? Or are you a spy?
15. Let's finish with this genuinely really lovely text
What a cornucopia of text messages that was; a real mixed bag which just goes to prove that, when it comes to dating, there really is no set of hard and fast rules to follow.
