Dear Dater,

My advice for a first date with someone you’ve met through online dating is:

• always meet your date for the first time in a public place
• never get your date to pick you up from your house
• don’t tell your date your surname, where you live or where you work.

These tips may help you be safe, but they don’t guarantee the quality of the first date.

A friend warned me to steer clear of Adams whose idea of a first date was a picnic by the side of the road.  I agreed at the time, but have since met Adams for picnics in the park.

My least favourite date ever included me arriving to find Adam paying for his food without waiting for me, sitting by a busy road in the dizzling rain – with the sound of the nearby building site dominating the date.  The surprises didn’t end there as Adam accompanied me back to work, answering his phone along the way.  As he chatted on his phone, for a long time, an old work colleague of mine walked passed and kissed me.

So yes it seems public places are better suited to dates than others places, but some habits are also best avoided on first dates:

• buying your own food before your date arrives
• sitting beside a busy road in the rain next to a building site
• answering the phone (at all) and if you have to then having a long conversation.

Here’s to your safe dating.

Surely Eve