CTS Writes

I’m always surprised to find people still read my old dating blog http://52firstdates.com. After all, I officially finished the challenge eleven years ago but in truth am probably still only just recovering from it. Today, she turned a landmark 1.25 million hits old so this feels as good a time as any to take a moment to give her a virtual pat on the back. I might not update her anymore, but the thing that keeps me peeping behind the scenes at her stats is seeing her popping up unexpectedly in new countries all over the world.

She was, at the time, one of if not THE first dating blog of her kind, and while she looks a tad, shall we say, vintage these days (don’t we all babes!), I think she’s in some small ways stood the test of time.

At the time I was writing her in 2011 – 2012, in the halcyon days before dating apps complicated everything, aside from my pals in Blighty I had a huge readership in Denmark. I’d like to think they felt vindicated when my 52th and final date was in Copenhagen. Hej mine danske venner. Så længe og tak for alle “smushi”.

This year, for example, my biggest fanbase has been in Sweden of all places (Bättre sent än aldrig, vänner), and in the last month alone, Singapore has decided to clock on with over 4k hits there. For a blog written in the pre-Tinder, pre-influencer era, crossing the one and a quarter million hit mark still feels like a timely reminder to appreciate quite how far this daft little dating project of mine has spread, and how thankful I am she’s still got her own shabby, dusty little corner of cyberspace. Also, how bloody grateful I am I no longer have to navigate the choppy shark-infested waters of the London dating scene, I was running short of spare limbs…

I guess maybe what the above goes to show is that the thankless, hapless quest for love is a universal truth. We all believe in finding that special someone (or -two, or -three, or more), like to root for the underdog, and also relish a little schadenfreude (may I refer you to the time I texted my date instead of my mate and other stories).

Or, perhaps, it’s the harsh reality that the phrase “52 First Dates” translates as something very unfortunate in multiple different languages. I’m not sure I want to know the answer.

Thankfully, life now couldn’t be further from that single girl trying to find her place in the world; trying to write her own happy ending by hunting for love in London with some poor unsuspecting sod when, as it would turn out, she should have been looking for it with herself. But, as it turned out, my happy ending went and found me. Sure, now I’m a decade older, a bit thicker round the waist, crinklier on the face, whiskerier on the chin and disappointingly no more wiser, but I’m a heck of a lot happier. I’m still very proud of my little old blog, but more importantly, I’m proud of my little old self. Here’s to new beginnings! And by new beginnings, I do NOT mean 52 Second Dates…