A few weeks ago, I was sitting outside on a bar patio with a friend in the middle of the afternoon. The patio was right on the sidewalk and we faced out, enjoying the sun and people watching. About a block away, I spotted two women approaching and said to my friend, “Don’t look now, but an ex of mine is coming this way.” We didn’t exactly make eye contact, but she must have seen me. She did that thing where she stopped her friend, pretended they were going the wrong way, turned and headed back away from us. It’s been well documented that I seem to have this effect on women - a repelling effect. Especially when it comes to ex’s. Now, this is a situation that many people have been in, running into an ex, but I would like to use this experience as an opportunity to bring up a few points.

I’m friends with almost no ex’s. Does this reflect badly on me? Probably. Most likely. Yes, when a relationship ends, there is heartbreak and sadness, but retaining some sense of a friendship always seemed futile to me. I’m not knocking those that do salvage a friendship, it’s just not for me. Do I really need to put the effort into this? Hmmm, well, last year I ran into an ex at the bar Three Speed (a place where nothing good ever happens), she grabbed the guy she was with and ran out of the place.

This kind of incident calls for some self-reflection.