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I met my wife through Guardian Soulmates. Through somebody else& #39;s Guardian Soulmates. It& #39;s quite a good story so I& #39;ll try to tell it. A few details will be a bit misremembered or accidentally made up, probably, but I& #39;ll do my best.
I was staying with a friend. He had several dates through @guardian_SM. We lived in Oxford, most of the dates were in London. I think his location settings in the search were & #39;very generous.& #39; Probably the whole south of England. But he set it only to show profiles with pictures.
I encouraged him to look at profiles without pictures. He was sceptical. To prove a point, I ran a search on his account and read some of the picture-less introductions to him. One in particular sounded ace. (Maybe you think you know where this is going... well, I& #39;m not so sure)
It wasn& #39;t so much what this introduction revealed (it said she was in London and played tennis, I remember that much) it was the *tone* of it. It wasn& #39;t dour. It wasn& #39;t flip. There was a kind of alchemy that was... a mix? I guess melancholy sounds too sad. But it was *shaded*
My friend wasn& #39;t going to message her because she didn& #39;t have a picture. That should have been the end of it. But I thought about her intro again, later on. I liked it. I was getting really good vibes. It& #39;s hard to put a finger on it.
But I didn& #39;t have a Soulmates account.
But I didn& #39;t have a Soulmates account.
Anyway, this is where some of the details get a bit fuzzy but I do remember there were drop-down options one would choose in setting up your profile and one of them referred to certain things being "Absolutely serious." I was new to this, it stuck in my mind. That& #39;s important.
There was some way to send up a flare between two non-paid accounts. I signed up as a free Soulmates user and I took a punt, sent out the sign. Maybe she& #39;d sign up and message me.
She didn& #39;t. She did something a lot more tricksy.
She didn& #39;t. She did something a lot more tricksy.
She edited her profile and drew my attention back to it using one of the drop-down options. I wish I had the interface now, I could work out exactly what she did. Suffice to say, I was directed back to look at her intro again - and to look a little more carefully, or closely.
And that& #39;s when I saw it: she had edited her profile text and put in a conspicuous bit of nonsense. It was a code!
That was it. That was the clincher. I was going to crack it and find out what the message was...
That was it. That was the clincher. I was going to crack it and find out what the message was...
It was, quite predictably, her email address!
How could I not email her now? So I did, and I told her more or less everything that I& #39;ve already put in this thread. And then, later that day - 15 February 2005 - she replied.
How could I not email her now? So I did, and I told her more or less everything that I& #39;ve already put in this thread. And then, later that day - 15 February 2005 - she replied.
