"Spontaneous ...really, you got to rehearse that...not easy."

I know someone whose knees knock every time she runs into someone in her place of work. Or did. In the way of the rom-com movies, he's leaving, so the ethics of workplace romance don't need looking at it.

Sticking with the movie trope, the day he left, they had a heart to heart, their first, the unburdener of hopes; up till then everything had been articulated through red-faces, stammerings and palpitations. From the snippets she's given me of that conversation, and in some ways it must have been like one between two infatuated teeny-boppers, he's effectively given her clearance to land, priority at the baggage carousel.

She's been out of the dating game for a while. Not on the bench, waiting to be called on, no, she was in a long term relationship, which came to a grinding shudder. No idea what to do, or what the rules are (there are none as far as I know, it's down to hope).

I'm called on for advice. Flattering to be approached, but she'd really have been better off, seeking someone out with experience. I'm great on theory, unbeatable, when it comes to homework, I'm your man...just actually field-testing it all....putting the hours of study into practice...well...

Anyway, rely on being natural, yourself, that's the first thing, I said to her, threw the usual line or two that everyone hears at some point: if it does n't work, don't worry, there's more fish etc...

Anything else ? Slaughter a goat to propiate the Gods ? No, not quite that. Picture it as an audition, have some lines ready just in case it's ebbing when you want it flowing. Be prepared, rehearse being spontaneous.

Dating advice provided by a single man in his mid-forties. I see no connection.