Having been wooed, courted and won (?) with great energy, application and lies, through the initial medium of Mudcat and then dumped unceremoniously I would now say some of these posts about the behaviour of men of a certain age are spot on.

There are men of a certain age who revert to being teenagers - there are men (usually 50 more or less) who think women of their age must be deperate and grateful and in fact, like teenagers, don't expect a committment: after all they've had their fingers burned by alimony etc and plus it's too exciting being let into the candy store.

There are men of this age who (I've seen them) with a thought bubble above their heads that says "I am short, fat, grey, balding and a preference for grey, sagging, nylon underwear, dubious laundry habits and a prediliction for boring the arse off everyone (including my mates) but hey, I have a penis so that makes all the foregoing desirable?"

Men are boring and predictable - and face it, honey- all the good ones got snaffled long ago - or are still into biological imperatives such as making it with fertile females (ie, under 40) or they are gay. The only ones worth not giving a wide berth to are widowers.

Fact: whereas men not in relationships are generally (sexually and mentally) wankers - for solitary women, masturbation gives predictably satisfactory results without having grey, nylon, laundry chores.

Dating? Forget it. Men - forget them. Concentrate on creating a fulfilling life for yourself (after all, unless you hook a toy boy we women are all going to end up living longer and alone anyway).

Me: after the appalling heart break by someone who took great care to pass all the inbuilt checks - I'm gonna be a lesbian. At least that's having sex and a relationship with a species I can understand and relate to.   Men really are from the planet Zog and why waste any more of your life trying to understand them?