JILL POULSEN

“I am a bit of a light sleeper,” I fake laughed. The truth is I wouldn’t hear it over the sound of my own snoring.

But it’s just not the kind of first date chat that inspires any hope for a truly convenient marriage.

By the time the job interview was over there was one last awkward interaction to have.

“Do you make much money as a journalist?” he asked.

“Probably not as much as an engineer but I can pay for my own curry,” I quipped.

I think it was Emily Dickinson who once said “nobody is perfect until you fall in love with them”.

Actually no, that wasn’t Dickinson.

I think I read that on an influencer’s Instagram account beside a photo of them flogging frozen yoghurt. Anyway, whoever came up with this pearl of wisdom, was right.

The irritating quirks of someone’s personality, say for example, watching Big Bang Theory because they actually find it funny.

The propensity to use text talk like ‘R u free’, or the inability to go two days without posting a selfie from the gym tend to start fading away until we’re so blinded by love we might as well be walking around with a bucket on our head. And it’s a feeling that’s hard to beat.

Whatever happens after that can at times be dubious but definitely those first few fleeting weeks, months, years, decades however long your “in love” phase lasts, is usually a delight.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner being in love will be top of everyone’s minds.

So instead of just celebrating all of the good things about love this Valentine’s Day I thought why not indulge in the bad, too.

It may sound a little negative being so close to the sacred day of Saint Valentine, but I figure it’s a good opportunity for those who have found love to be grateful they don’t have to waste all of their mobile data downloading the plethora of dating apps now on offer. And for those who are in the trenches looking for love, it might help to feel less alone in what’s an often soul destroying search.

And, for those who are entirely uninterested in the dating world and prefer to stay single, to stay that way.

As for me, I’ll probably spend this 14th of February apathetically flicking through Tinder watching Notting Hill.