Balance November 2017 - 39

STEPPING OUT

dateover

A blind date where one person arrives late and the other has to leave early sounds
like a recipe for disaster. Can our latest pair survive such an unpromising start?

The date

THE DATING EXPERT
Nana Wereko-Brobby
runs dating events
club Social Concierge
(socialconcierge.co.uk),
for people who prefer
to date offline...

Thursday night,
6.30pm, Flavour
Bastard, Soho
'I'm usually late for
dates as I hate them,'
says Amy. 'But I'd never
been on a blind date before so I was
actually excited. With work running
late, I was delayed by 40 minutes...
'Nick was so gracious about my being
embarrassingly late - and informed
me he only had an hour left! He had a
prior arrangement to see a mate's film
screening and couldn't let him down. I
was a bit disappointed, but we agreed to
make the most of the remaining hour.
This was definitely a speed date!'
Nick adds: 'We were on a tight
turnaround, so you'd think Amy's late
arrival would be a disaster, but it wasn't.
Amy is a bright and attractive business
woman - we had plenty to talk about.'

The consultation
The recent end of a three-year
relationship coincided with a new
direction in Amy's life - setting up a
coaching business and embarking on
the hectic life of an entrepreneur.
Formerly an actress for 15 years,
Amy is spontaneous, dives right
in and sees the best in random
situations. Her uniform is jeans and
Ts. Unconventional? Yes. Career
MEET AMY
Former wild child, actress
woman? Recently. Which means
and bon vivant, Amy is a selfher prior relationships
pronounced late bloomer (she's in
with hedonistic types no
her 'late 30s') and has enjoyed some
longer fit the woman she
passionate relationships but hasn't
taken things too seriously to date.
has become. This dateover
Eccentric and engaging, Amy has a
challenge is to find someone
strong personality and a lot of spirit.
more mature, who can match
But now that her priorities have
her new focus.
changed, for the first time in
a long time, she is open to
However, the soul of a party
dating with purpose.
girl never dies so the mission was
to find a fun-loving guy who had also
discovered direction a little later in
life and was now all about getting
those ducks in a (romantic) row.

The verdict
Amy says:
Nick says:
Would I go out
My first and last
with him again?
impressions of Amy
Absolutely. An hour
were kinda the
isn't long enough to same - she was easy
tell how you feel
to talk to and had
about someone, but
a good sense of
he was handsome,
humour. I'm pretty
interesting and
sure we're in
articulate. Most
agreement that a
importantly, like me,
second meeting
he is bored with
would make sense,
partying and
especially in the
hanging around
light of our curtailed
shallow numpties!
first effort.
9/10
9/10

PHOTOGRAPHY: WILL IRELAND

The match

Nick, 'mid 30s' Scouted at 21 by
Storm Models, Nick's 20s were fun
and party-focused, with music also
taking centre stage. At 31 he broke
up with his girlfriend of five years
and says he's 'stumbled through the
30s single wilderness ever since'.
Recently finding his career calling
- the drinks business - he's now
ready to look more proactively for
a relationship. What drives him
is a simple and happy life, starting
a family, doing something he loves
and getting that work/life balance.

Nana says... The only enemy here
was time, always the Londoner's
plight. I'm hoping for at least a
three-hour date next time. Follow
@BalanceLDN on Twitter for an
update on the Amy and Nick story...

Do you want Balance to find you a date? If you'd like to take part
in the next Dateover, simply sign up at balance.media

November 2017 BA LA N CE

39
http://socialconcierge.co.uk
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Balance November 2017
