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I have always found this to be the strangest part of the year when it comes to relationships. It has already been a month since Valentine's day - and how things have changed. The florists are empty, the chocolates have all melted and the discounted fluffy toys are almost all sold out.

Personally, I think it all has to do with the weather. Summer is dying down, and the nights are getting colder and that is very depressing for a single guy. The skirts are turning into jeans and the skimpy little tops are always covered with jackets. And of course, with all the rain we have been having there's hardly anyone going out in the first place.

It's the winter romance. The time when people start hooking up so they are not alone during the cold — because let's be honest, there is nothing worse than getting into a cold bed alone.

And while I can never condone getting into a relationship for the wrong reasons, I suppose I cannot judge either. But I will, at least for one old friends tactics in the world of dating.

This friend of mine has repeated the same game plan year after year — with a 100% success rate.

Towards the end of the year, single of course — it's warm and the sun is out — he starts the parties. House parties, pubs, clubs and beach holidays. A legend in his own right who has the ability to pick up the most beautiful girl wherever he is and in any state — in his case, mostly drunken, yet still suave.

And it continues throughout the summer. He will never buy a girl dinner or flowers during when the sun is shining and the temperature is above freezing. Frankly, he doesn't need to get past the first date, because next week there will be another girl.

And herein lies his most important tactic. He never loses contact with any girl he gets a number from — or a kiss for that matter. A photographic memory and a cellphone that can store what seems to be thousands of numbers.

As soon as the sun starts going down and the leaves start falling off the trees he kicks into romantic action. The dates suddenly start, and learns how to cook at home again. The burning wood in the fireplace and a candle lit dinner — he's a different man. It always amazes me, you hear about people having multiple personalities, but not six months apart!

After a few weeks of this game, he decides he wants to settle down and picks one girl, like an unsuspecting gazelle snatched by the lion.

We don't see him during winter. He does the "real" boyfriend thing and spends time at home watching DVD's and eating take-aways — which is probably how his liver manages to survive the rest of the year.

And his bed is never cold. Until the first of September and that first flower bud opens up. The girl disappears, the liver tonics start and the game begins again...