What's a Girl to do ? Single and living back near my home town after a whole 10 years, nice house in a nice village where I guess the majority of people are coupled up. I'm now 44 years old (how did that even happen) anyway I'm now ready, after embracing the life of the Single Independent Woman, I'm ready to meet someone, a man, men, the man, the man of my dreams. I'm single and looking and I don't mind saying.

There's two choices, socialize a lot more and further afield which I do try to but (unfortunately for me) not as often as I'd like or as often as I should (it's not always possible for whatever reason) and when I can, how do I know who's single, how do I know who's ready to mingle, who's single and looking .. it's so difficult at any stage of singleness.

Second choice is to use t'internet .. those cyber space online dating app thingies. Personally I've never wanted to use them but, actually now that I'm questioning myself, I'm unsure why I just haven't ? Deep down I think it's maybe because I'd like to be able to meet him offline, our eyes will meet across a crowded wherever .. I'm deluded I know, I need to get with the times, everyone's dating online right ?

I'm online enough without having another reason to stare at a screen. A major part of getting to know someone, whether it be on or off line, well it's gonna take time and I for one don't have that much "free time" .. who actually has and even if I did, would I really want to spend it online ? What if I'm ghosted, that actually is a "thing", I'd be feeling terrible and we've not even met, what's that all about .. Oh My What's a Girl to do ?

So say I did find the time, how long do you "chat" before the eventual meet up ? One week, two, a month, two .. then what ? What if the meet up's cold, nothing there, no spark, no attraction, nada ... Would I be selfish for thinking it's been a total waste of time, my precious time ? Also for me, the romantic at heart .. what about our eyes meeting across a crowded room, is it gonna be the same looking at a profile pic ? Said pic could be from however long ago and obviously we do all change with age, what if the profile's a fake from the start ? Is there some cyber word for that too ?

There's loads of people doing the online thing with lots of success stories which is fantastic. Good luck to each and everyone of us in finding our soul mate, wherever and however that may be. Equally there's a lot of, shall we say, not so successful stories and don't even mention the pics, dare I go there, those too soon, totally unnecessary and mainly unwanted (most of the time) really intimate pics. Oh and just to put it out there, some friends do show them to their friends !

Maybe I will give it a try .. the online dating thing, then I'll know for sure if it's as daunting and time consuming as I often imagine. I'll still be holding out for our eyes to meet across the crowded blah blah - I know ! I'm an all or nothing kinda girl, can't help but wear my heart on my sleeve.

What IS a Girl to Do ?