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First Date #47 was with a Ukrainian woman living in Lusk, County Dublin. We matched on Bumble. As this was well before the current crisis in Ukraine, matching with a Ukrainian woman was unusual but also uninteresting. I matched with people of all nationalities on these dating apps. In fact, over 40% of my matches were with non-Irish women.

Although I had hired a car the previous week, I did not have one when I matched with FirstDate47. She lives in the north end of County Dublin, and it would take a few trains and/or buses to get there. So, I talked her into meeting me in Dublin. She was interested in meeting at a castle, so I looked to see where there might be a castle to meet. I hadn’t been to Clontarf, and Castle Clontarf seemed to fit the bill. On a warm and sunny Saturday morning in July, I took the bus into Dublin City Center. Then I walked about an hour to Clontarf Castle. I looked around the castle, and it was more of a hotel than an actual castle – whoops!  Plus, there were COVID restrictions in place, so eating at the restaurant without being a guest wasn’t going to work.

A very lovely looking, much younger woman arrived shortly after I did. Immediately, I did not think this was going to be a good match. While I certainly wouldn’t mind dating a hot, younger woman, it would be rare for them to be into older dudes. Then again, you never know – maybe she wasn’t looking for Mr. Right. Perhaps she was looking for Mr. Right Now. 🤞 As the castle hotel wasn’t going to work, I asked if she wouldn’t mind walking down along the beach. She agreed…

(First Date – 10 July, 2021)