Well, it's been a while since I have been on a date, and I got chatting to a lass on FB and we went out for a drive, got some food and just chatted in the car in front of the beach.

It was a fun date but the red flags were pentiful.

The red flags started coming thick and fast as what she started talking about her ex being abusive whilst being with her for 5 years... talking crap about an ex, that's red flag 1, and a history of self harm, (fresh wounds on her body that had surgical stitches), the wounds looked deep and made me cringe looking at them, I have a pretty sturdy constitution, I watched my own toenail being removed and didn't flinch, but those wounds made my balls ache... red flag 2, and then came the restaurant.

We get in, they ask me for my name and if we lived together, and when I said no whilst giving my details, she comes out with a completely different name, the crimson gold filigreed flag waving in the breeze and there I am bemused at this point and just trying to laugh off the other two as we sit down whilst processing this decorative red monstrosity flapping in the breeze.

I crack a few jokes to relieve the tension, offer to buy her food, she declines, tells me that she is feeling a little ill so not hungry, and we chat, I order a lovely meal for myself whilst offering starters or nibbles just in case and in the end, I eat my plate full of food in front of a person who is too anxious to eat.

Conversation is good, she is smiling, her face is hurting from all the smiling at the end, and we go for a drive parking up by the beach and just chat for hours and then she brings up that she has a kid but that she is not allowed to see them, they are staying with the grand parent. As if the other red flags weren't enough but I liked her a lot and went in for the kiss but... she was worried about her breath and... that was that. Took her back home and she messages me telling me her mum has been to see her dealer and regrets not sticking around, which at this point, I am just talking to the flag delivery guy like we're on a first name basis and telling him to put them with the others.

I overlooked a tonne of stuff because I like her quite a bit and went to sleep feeling good but woke up with a cool head and a list of red flags that just don't stop circling in my head, one of which is the fact that I got the impression that she was pregnant, she did outright state that she had periods recently but there was just a really strong gut feeling that paternity fraud is on the horizon.

I don't know man, there's so many red flags and I am sat there in my nice car with good income and no strings on my life looking at a minesweeper board with a tonne of flags planted everywhere thinking, wtf happened to the dating market?