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You can tell you've been single too long when you can't see the difference between an innocent come on and sexual harassment.
For example, I was taking a taxi home from the cinema one night last week and was fully prepared for a silent ride home. I am not the type for banter - there's only so much sniping I can do about Brian Cowen and the weather.
"Was that a date?" the taxi driver barks at me the second I get in the car, pointing at the (male) friend who had just seen me off. This is a very odd question indeed. I'm starting to wish that I'd sat in the back and not in the passenger seat. I look at his registration photo, feeling a bit too intimidated to actually look at him, with the full intention of memorising his face in case he tried to feel me up and I had to bail out of the car while it was still moving (ask any smart woman who takes a taxi by herself at night - we all do this on some level).
What I had expected to be a middle-aged man is actually a tanned, muscular, very cute specimen. He asks for my number and I give it to him, stupidly reasoning that since he now knows where I live, it would be futile to resist. He texts me as soon as I get in. And half an hour later. And then 12 times the next day.
By day four, I'm ready to pull out my hair. I send him a curt message telling him in no uncertain terms never to contact me again. He is genuinely hurt and is offended that I could be so touchy. The unwanted texting continues.
Like many women, I'm not so much scarred by years of dating emotionally unavailable men, as I am deathly afraid of being scarred by years of dating emotionally unavailable men. My guard is constantly up and I question everything. I'm not actually sure if he's pestering me or if I'm just being cruel and heartless by telling him to take a long walk off a short taxi rank.
The signals couldn't be more mixed if I was a blender. On one hand, he is constantly sending me unwanted texts. On the other hand, he may only be doing this because he has just realised that we're soul mates and I'm slow on the uptake. Or am I just afraid of men? Am I scared of commitment? Am I doomed to be alone?
It took a much wiser person than I to explain a universal truth: unwanted attention is harassment. If someone doesn't leave you alone when you tell them to (with the exception of parents and bailiffs), it is harassment. You don't have to put up with it if you don't want to. Oh, and it's most definitely not you; it's them.
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