Love bytes

But Hannah, from Nottingham, is living proof that love and happiness can be found online. Single for five years, she returned from a year in Australia with an urge for an emotional clearout.

While rummaging through old cards and keepsakes, she came across some information about Natural Friends (www.natural-friends.com), an organisation specialising in introducing single, non-smoking individuals with an interest in alternative therapies, a passion of Hannah's.

'The site was fascinating, and the profiles were all genuine, honest and humorous. I could not fight the urge to join. I devised a profile and signed up on New Year's Eve,' she says.

Meanwhile, over in Berkshire, after nine months of being single, Simon came across a Natural Friends advert in a magazine. Spookily, on New Year's Day he too joined up. Having printed off a few other profiles, he put Hannah's to one side, and for the first few weeks both of them exchanged emails with other users.

'Simon and I had a few dates with other members - all lovely, genuine people - but the magic wasn't there. At the end of January, I got an email from Simon inviting me to view his profile.' Hannah was intrigued and immediately replied with a list of seven questions.

'He came back with some cracking answers. A week after exchanging photos, we decided to meet up,' says Hannah.

Simon drove up to Nottingham, where they had two dinner dates. Seven weeks later Simon said he wanted to bring Hannah back home with him. 'That weekend, I packed my bags and went to live with the man I fell in love with over the Web,' Hannah beams.

'We are both convinced it was fate that enticed us to join the same site at almost the same time. We both wanted a partner who shared our values, beliefs and interests, and the Web provided a way of finding that person. Life's too short to wait.'

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