Hot Danish and I were discussing relationships recently after returning from watching one of the Euro matches in the pub when he made a sweeping generalisation: ‘Women in their 30s are less fussy.’ I had two comebacks. One: that doesn’t say much about him, then. Two: Most of his friends are in relationships while most of mine are single because women in their 30s have learnt from their mistakes in their 20s, they know what they want and they would rather be single than be in a rotten relationship.

And what about men in their 30s? When I asked Mark about his single friends with a bit of match-making in mind, his quick response was, ‘My single friends are single for a reason.’ My own sweeping generalisation is that there are more decent single women out there than decent single men.

‘I am enjoying being single. No one to worry about,’ Louise said with conviction as we queued, glass of wine in hand, to be seated at Barrafina’s bar. Young and free, she is wondering whether to go to Paris next. ‘Come to Amsterdam,’ I responded (I am planning to colonise the city with my friends).

I think it is harder going through break-ups as you get older, though. ‘Remember when you insisted on cooking for me after my seven-year relationship,’ I said to Kate as Luisa grabbed the picnic wrappings being whipped away by the wind before Opera Brava’s Madam Butterfly started in Chiswick House Gardens. ‘It’s better to lose weight than comfort eat like I do, though,’ she replied, topping up our plastic flutes. ‘Then I wonder if I’ll ever find anyone.’
‘It’s not the actual break-up I hate,’ Luisa admitted. ‘It’s wondering if I’ll ever meet a decent guy.’
‘There are lots of tall, good-looking, well-educated men in Amsterdam,’ I told my discerning friends.