Everything is ship-shape and Bristol fashion

There was no awkwardness on Sunday morning. Despite our drunkenness – her more than me, as she had sat in the pub for seven hours – perhaps our actions had been borne out of something a little deeper.

I don’t know whether it was the fact that we had done two or three dates worth of talking, but overnight we had strangely become two people in the early stages of ‘coupledom’. We hung at the back of the group, holding hands, gazing into each others' eyes and kissing. We were like a couple of love-struck teenagers.

At the end of the walk, I took her number. The Bristolian told me that she would hopefully be in London for a meeting before Christmas. I texted her on the way home and a few more messages went back and forth during Sunday evening.

I was off work the following day, and when I logged on to my computer, I had received an email saying that she would be in London on Wednesday – and did I fancy meeting up.

We exchanged emails all day. The conversation on Saturday night had been interesting (the fact that she had written a book and done two marathons clinched the deal from my point of view), but there hadn’t been any particular spark. Was it was just a case of two single people with a lot in common having a snog?

But the emails had ratcheted things up several degrees. The banter was good and there was plenty of flirting. This woman was clearly very keen on me. And despite one or two concerns (primarily the fact that we live 200 miles apart), I am very fond of her. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow night.