Dating for men who remember Dire straits as a fairly new group

Well dating has never been one of my strong points, I find myself tongue tied and rather nervous. Well dating now at my time of life has further complications. The first difficulty is the sort of date you attract. It is a bit like buying a 2nd hand fridge, the only model you are likely to get is broken models that have been repaired (and most of them not very well) and after a while you find out the fault they had in their last relationship comes back up again. it must be stressed I am not using the fridge analogy because I am cold and broke but I think when these break they are rarely well repaired. Of course as we hit a certain age we look for or guess what the faults can be and as we know with most second hand goods we will almost certainly find them if we look hard enough. Also there is the problem of what to do on a date (fridge shopping is almost certainly out of the question) a Movie? Take her to a romantic film and you look desperate, take her to an action film and you look immature, take her to a documentary and you look geeky. The choices are never simple. A meal out and then the issue of payment raises its head. You pay and she reads that you are expecting something in return, split the bill and she thinks she is dating Marley's partner. Oh well I am off to Hughes's to buy myself a first hand fridge with no previous owners.