This is a serialisation of the novel Marcello: Love in the City. This week Marcello accidentally insults his date via text. The second date is always a quandary. I never quite know where to go – in the literal sense. The first date is easy. I have a rolodex of venues in my head (well,...Read More

This is a serialisation of the novel ‘Marcello: Love in the City’. After several failures Marcello decides to start online dating – again. Jane met me at Brockley station. We walked into the Vineyard to find it only half full of people. And yet you could say the bar was packed – with reserved signs....Read More

This is a serialisation of the novel ‘Marcello: Love in the City’. This week Marcello goes on a date with his work colleague, Charlotte. We met up on a wet afternoon. It was strange seeing Charlotte in her casual array, she had dispensed with her pencil skirt and heels and gone for a many layered...Read More

This is a serialisation of the novel ‘Marcello: Love in the City’. After being rejected by a corporate lawyer Marcello, the dating blogger, meets a chipper charity worker. Online dating. I supposed it is all a bit like job hunting: a steady flow of rejection, interspersed with the occasional prospect. Already the process was robotic,...Read More

People do cool things on TV. We all know that. TV action heroes are forever rolling out of cars and pursuing shadowy assailants; they leap across rooftops and dive through window glass – all the while racing against the metaphorical clock. These heroes, these men (for they are often men) are utterly driven. Needles to...Read More

There is something unseemly about discussing politics on a date. On a first date anyway. First dates should be about the star-fire of urbane humour and charming, self-deprecating chatter. First dates are for talking about your wonderful friends (honestly, they’re like my family) and offering moist-eyed anecdotes about your cherubic nephews. First dates should also...Read More