Rachel on Josh<\/p>\n
What were you hoping for?
A lovely meal on a misty Saturday, hopefully with someone I\u2019d like to see again.<\/p>\n
First impressions?
He bought me flowers! So instantly I knew he was a gentleman.<\/p>\n
What did you talk about?
The wonderful Bristol and Welsh standup scenes (a shoutout to Welsh Jesus). Podcasts (mainly me trying to convince him to listen to What Did You Do Yesterday?). His sister (a zookeeper). The surprising politics of lap swimming.<\/p>\n
Most awkward moment?
Spoilers, but when we hugged goodbye I didn\u2019t realise he was putting his phone in his coat pocket, which fumbled things a bit.<\/p>\n
Good table manners?
Excellent \u2013 even when we ordered shell-on prawns, he kept his dignity.<\/p>\n
Best thing about Josh?
His joy when talking about his interests.<\/p>\n
Would you introduce Josh to your friends?
Yes, I think he\u2019d fit right in.<\/p>\n
Q&AFancy a blind date?Show<\/p>\n
Blind date is Saturday\u2019s dating column: every week, two What questions will I be asked? Can I choose who I match with? Can I pick the photograph? What personal details will appear? How should I answer? Will I see the other person\u2019s answers? Will you find me The One? Can I do it in my home town? How to apply Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n Describe Josh in three words What do you think Josh made of you? Did you go on somewhere? And \u2026 did you kiss? If you could change one thing about the evening, what would it be? Marks out of 10? Would you meet again? Josh and Rachel on their date.Josh on Rachel<\/p>\n What were you hoping for? First impressions? What did you talk about? Most awkward moment? Good table manners? Best thing about Rachel? Would you introduce Rachel to your friends? Describe Rachel in three words What do you think she made of you? Did you go on somewhere? And \u2026 did you kiss? If you could change one thing about the evening, what would it be? Marks out of 10? Would you meet again? Josh and Rachel ate at Cotto<\/a>, Bristol. Fancy a blind date? Email blind.date@theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rachel on Josh What were you hoping for?A lovely meal on a misty Saturday, hopefully with someone I\u2019d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-512308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nstrangers are paired up for dinner and drinks, and then spill the beans
\nto us, answering a set of questions. This runs, with a photograph we
\ntake of each dater before the date, in Saturday magazine (in the
\n UK) and online at\u00a0theguardian.com<\/a>\u00a0every Saturday. It\u2019s been running since 2009 \u2013 you can read all about how we put it together here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
We
\n ask about age, location, occupation, hobbies, interests and the type of
\n person you are looking to meet. If you do not think these questions
\ncover everything you would like to know, tell us what\u2019s on your mind.<\/p>\n
No,
\n it\u2019s a blind date! But we do ask you a bit about your interests,
\npreferences, etc \u2013 the more you tell us, the better the match is likely
\nto be.<\/p>\n
No, but don’t worry: we’ll choose the nicest ones.<\/p>\n
Your first name, job and age.<\/p>\n
Honestly
\n but respectfully. Be mindful of how it will read to your date, and that
\n Blind date reaches a large audience, in print and online.<\/p>\n
No. We may edit yours and theirs for a range of reasons, including length, and we may ask you for more details.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll try! Marriage! Babies!<\/p>\n
Only if it\u2019s in the UK. Many of our applicants live in London, but we would love to hear from people living elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Email blind.date@theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n
Engaging, interesting, sweet.<\/p>\n
Not sure, I hope he enjoyed our evening chatting as much as I did.<\/p>\n
No, but to be fair our dinner started at 5pm and the restaurant kindly shuffled our table around three times so we could keep chatting until they closed.<\/p>\n
No.<\/p>\n
Perhaps not ordering the prawns \u2013 so tasty, but so messy!<\/p>\n
10.<\/p>\n
Hopefully! We swapped numbers and talked about going to a gig as friends \u2013 we live too far apart for romance.<\/p>\n
To find the one!<\/p>\n
Very pretty, natural, great outfit and very easy to talk to.<\/p>\n
Our shared love of comedy \u2013 finding she is also a fan of Gareth Hunt, AKA Welsh Jesus, was a surprise! Our similar upbringings \u2013 she\u2019s Australian, but we both grew up in small towns and, like me, she\u2019s close to her family.<\/p>\n
We were running out of time on our table, so the manager suggested we move for dessert, and there was just an awkward moment where we looked at each before we agreed. Then after dessert, it happened again!<\/p>\n
I had no idea how to eat the prawns, so I had to ask her to teach me.<\/p>\n
Really easy to talk to and a great smile.<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
Easygoing, confident, lovely.<\/p>\n
Hopefully kind, a little nervous, but I think she enjoyed my company.<\/p>\n
No, but we stayed in the restaurant chatting until it closed.<\/p>\n
We hugged goodbye. I think we both enjoyed the date, but unfortunately no romantic spark.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think I\u2019d change a thing. It was such an easy, enjoyable evening.<\/p>\n
8.<\/p>\n
Yes, we\u2019ve swapped numbers \u2013 hopefully we\u2019ll go to a comedy show together.<\/p>\n