Match me if you can
If Esther had things her way, this date would ideally be with Johnny Depp, in a riverside restaurant in Paris. Although we haven't been able to magic up Mr Depp, here's hoping that Phil will live up to the other qualities she seeks in a date: a good sense of humour, and politeness!
Flippant Phil from Solihull describes himself as a "politically incorrect sociopath", which is somewhat worrying to hear. Hopefully, Esther doesn't prove to be the feisty sort. Thankfully his friends
disagree with his own self-assessment, calling him "vivid, gentlemanly and entertaining". His ideal woman is anyone with low standards and his ideal date just involves dinner.
It's official: Oxford is cursed when it comes to matters of the heart. We allegedly get the least sex out of all of the students in the country, leaving many students with lonely single beds and empty pidges come Valentine's Day. My mission in continuing the good work of Lorna and Kim is to guide the singles of Oxford on the course of true love.
However, Shakespeare was right in declaring that this course never did run smooth. 0th week of Hilary is perhaps the least romantic time of year in Oxford, with most of the students sitting at home either revising for collections or partaking in the slightly less academic study of watching daytime TV. So what's a matchmaker to do? In my case, I was left to match two students from the same college. In lieu of a love potion, I had only the hope that they would be able to form a new bond over what they think of the food in Hall and their feelings about the college cat. Whether this tactic would be successful remained to be seen.
Initial setbacks on the date were minimal. Esther thankfully declined the use of her friend's pepper spray in case Phil proved to "get funny ideas" but arrived late thanks to a rowing commitment and had to make a super-quick change. On introduction, the pair exchanged an exaggerated "WOW", causing them to crack up into giggles. The tone was jovial as we arrived at Baby in Jericho, although the couple became self-concious as we took advantage of the ambient setting to take a few photos. At this point we left to let the date commence, hoping the good feeling would continue through their meal and last onto a dessert of ice cream at G&Ds!
Phil on the date: My first impression of Esther was that her standards were too high, but despite this I thought she was sociable and a ravishing beauty. Baby was a very attractive restaurant with really good food - I gained an inordinate amount of pleasure from the steak. She made me laugh until she mentioned that she supported Labour, at which point I almost stormed out in disgust, but at least chatting was easy with the bottle of wine!
Esther on the date: I found Phil to be very friendly and funny on first impression, but not my type physically. Thankfully we found lots to talk about, and I found the food and wine very good! The funniest moment is when he cooed over the steak, exclaiming about how bloody it was. However, he appears to be a bit of a misogynistic pig! I will probably see him again as a friend.
13th Jan 2005