How to tell if the guy you’re seeing is ready to jump your bones or eschew your company for good? It should usually be pretty obvious, but with the rise of ‘playing the field’, some guys can get pretty sneaky about keeping their options open.

So, what’s a girl to do? There are plenty of articles out there telling you the signs to look for when he is into you…but ladies, guys can read those article too. They know how to play the game.

Here is a little list of tells that a guy can’t usually hide. If you spot one of these, chances are you’ve crossed into friend territory and your relationship isn’t going to shift any time soon without the help of excessive amounts of alcohol and ‘right-time, right-place’ manoeuvres.

Keep your poker face and suss out his moves…

1. He comes to you for ‘You’re a girl, what’s so-and-so thinking when she says…’ talks

Yeah. Unless his description carries insanely uncanny references to your own relationship, he isn’t talking about you. He’s plumbing your knowledge of the female brain for his own devious advantage.

2. If he doesn’t talk to you. At all.

Okay, this should be a no-brainer, but us ladies have a habit of convincing ourselves that the guy in question is lovestruck, timid and very, very shy. He’s not. If he wants to talk to you, he will find a way.

3. He treats you like he treats his friends.

You know. Drinking challenges at the pub, borrowing cash for the taxi, leaving you in the lurch at the bar to chat up the hot girl by the pool table… Either accept this is a friendship and nothing more, or have it out with him and accept the consequences.

How was your Valentine’s Day?

Did your secret crush send you roses? Did the girl next door give you a wave and an invite to dinner? Or did your cards get lost in the post and your date went awry?

Whatever happened, if you find yourself still looking for love post the big V-day, don’t sweat it. It’s not the be all and end all, I promise.

Don’t believe me? Then take five minutes out of your busy schedule and cast an eye over our list of dream dates gone wrong. Have a chuckle, make some quick resolutions that nothing like that will ever happen to you and then have at it! Get combing the site for someone you fancy and send them a quick message – after all, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

I organised a date with a girl I’d had a crush on for ever. I thought it would be really romantic to post letters with the time, date and details written on them in a kind of scrapbook layout over the week beforehand. What I didn’t realise was that her ex had stalked her and on receiving the letters, which looked a little bit like newspaper-cutting ransom notes, she freaked out and called the police. Needless to say, we never got to go on our date.

James sounded like the ideal man on his profile – tall, handsome, sweet, generous and with a romantic streak. We messaged back and forth for weeks before finally agreeing to meet up. Once the date was set, I found myself waiting in the bar for the tall guy with the red rose in his lapel. However, he never showed up. I stormed back home to demand why he’d stood me up via message only to find a slapdash email from his girlfriend. Thank goodness we never got together!

I met a great guy online and was all set to meet up, but then I found out he had been on one date with my friend which had gone horribly wrong and she wanted me to cancel. I was still into him, so I decided to go ahead with the date, but my friend felt so guilty about vetoing things that she overcompensated and wanted to know all about the ‘new’ guy I was supposedly going to meet. I had to make up an entirely different person to tell her about so she wouldn’t get suspicious and then when I had a great date I felt I couldn’t tell her at all in case she realised I’d lied about the guy!

Sometimes it seems as if all those people in happy relationships are a tad envious of the singleton’s freedom.

Other times, it feels like being single is possibly the worst thing in the world. Conflicting, huh?

So, we at Free and Single have done a quick round up of the pros and cons of relationships – to enthuse you and motivate you into continuing your dating adventures to find ‘The One’, or else to make you appreciate your single-ness until fate sees fit to intervene!

Pros!

• It’s cold, it’s raining and you’re snuggled up together on the sofa under a blanket, with a good movie and a cup of tea. Bliss.
• Support on tap! Come home from a hard day, have a bit of a moan, enjoy dispensing advice, maybe get a shoulder massage…
• Feeling frisky? Get down to business with all the love and trust you could want.
• Want to travel? Hate walking into new places by yourself? Insta-travel companion!
• Someone to bring you soup and blankets when you’re feeling poorly.
• A shoulder to cry on when things go topsy turvy.
• ‘Darling, do I look good in this?’ Answer: ‘Ravishing.’

Cons!

• Being with someone means involving them in your life. They’ll worry if they don’t know where you are or if you are proving incontactable.
• Mess/Tidiness. One of you will prefer things slightly tidier than the other. That’s life, folks.
• When your other half goes about ordering salads or saying they aren’t hungry, only to start nicking your chips.
• The inevitable urge to start changing them, or yourself, to fit.
• Jealousy – nobody likes the green headed monster to emerge snarling, but sometimes you just can’t help yourself.

Christmas can be a tricky time. It can seem like everyone is smooching under that damn mistletoe when you’re the only one stood alone in the corner with your fourth glass of eggnog.

However, Christmas is over for another year and we’re now stuck in the month of payback – presents, parties and party food all take their toll!

This time can be used for more than weepy recriminations about that second box of chocolates you scoffed next to the Christmas tree. Instead, use the time to reinvent yourself. Forget resolutions – those are for pansies. Instead, you can make yourself into the best possible version of you, ready for a year of love, laughter and lighter thoughts.

Chuck the chocolate, pop on a coat and go for a walk – seriously, it’ll bring a rosy glow to your features! Get a friends to take a picture of you in the evening sunshine (super flattering) and update your profile image. You could even treat yourself to a new haircut first if you fancy.

Think about what to write in your profile – what needs updating, what you want to write instead. Plan it out and then set aside an hour or so to actually write it, make the changes and start benefiting from them!

Enjoy the new year and enjoy your dates this January!