I’ve been a member of a well-known online dating site for about a year now, and I’m frustrated. I dread to think about how much time I have invested into trawling through endless profiles, having to ‘dismiss’ or ‘pass through for further scrutiny’ by looking at a few mug shots and reading a few lines of ‘pick me, I’m great’ type spiel.

No matter how logical the idea behind personality matching and profiling, there just is no formula that can be applied to the logistics of love. I’m so tired of spending endless fruitless hours batting emails back and forward with guys that seem ideal on paper, tick all the proverbial boxes, but then fail to inspire in real life. I really believe good old fashioned chemistry is still the most important factor in a romantic connection, and sadly this cannot be ascertained through emailing.

It’s also doomed, or at least made harder, because of the inevitable expectation build up that occurs after a few promising emails have been exchanged. One can’t help but form a picture of someone in one’s mind, and invariably they are never anything like you imagine. And because of the way our minds tend to work, more times than not, it is sadly a disappointment. 

Out of about 30 first dates over the past year initiated through online dating, I have only been pleasantly surprised a couple of times, enough to warrant a second meeting.

My faith has, however, recently been restored in manufactured dating ideas through my discovery of a novel website called www.simplydinner.co.uk.

It seems to share my gripes with profile based dating and has come up with a really simple idea to get single people together. It arranges dinners for groups of six (three girls, three guys) and advertises the dinner by a ‘dinner topic’. So you choose a topic you have an interest in (you can even make suggestions and they’ll try and arrange it for you), pay a very reasonable admin fee to register for the dinner, and that’s all there is to it. It takes a matter of moments and there’s no ongoing commitment or subscription. The idea of having a topic gives at least one common interest and talking point amongst guests, but doesn’t allow any false expectations to grow.

You can also attend these dinners with a friend or two instead of going alone, which is great for someone who’s a bit shy about doing it by themselves.

I went on my first dinner last week, topic ‘John Cleese Quoters – Monty Python & Fawlty Towers appreciators, this is for you!’ and had one of the most memorable and hilarious evenings I have had in a long time. I’ve even got a second date lined up with one of the guys who won me over immediately by giving me a wink and saying “don’t mention the war” as he shook my hand.

If you’re a singleton in London, I strongly recommend giving simplydinner a go. It’s great fun, and a fantastic way to meet three potential dates in one go. I’ve always been a bit of a fan of timesaving ideas!