OK, so got my first number close today, here is what I learnt from the experience and a little background in my preferred 'style'. Also happy and appreciative for any advice on making things a little smoother

I am not a night club/bar regular, I do hit them but I am more likely to be meeting girls out and about on trains, at a pub during the day, at events like the Olympics. So my game has to be based around these situations - I am rarely in a position where a girl will guaranteed to be around for long periods of time.

Today I was on the train home and saw a cute girl as a wandered down the carriage, I sat a little behind her so I could decide on a suitable approach and as she had a quirky hand bag I went with the 'present for a friend opener' - however I was immediately thrown of balance as though she was happy to chat she told me the bag was a counterfeit from Turkey, and that blew my game instantly as I was clearly not going to go to Turkey to buy a present for a friend. Left with a joke but the damage was done as was already walking away and probably would have been weird to suddenly turn around and start a new conversation about something else.

Lessons learnt: Have a backup plan - if something fails you need a potential fall back; get good at rolling with the punches (I suspect this comes with practice) - there were opportunities to steer the conversation in other directions, could have talked about Turkey, could have negged her for having a rip off bag

Had to change trains and when got on new one wandered down carriage and sat across from a girl - couldn't sit immediately opposite her as train was pretty much empty and anyone who knows train etiquette in the UK knows you look for an empty seat first Went with the same opener as before and got chatting about various topics, negged her a little as said she must have been at work as was dressed conservatively, gave myself some DHV by talking about all the places I had lived and trips abroad (a recent trip of hers to Amsterdam was the connection point for us), got plenty of IOIs from her and as we pulled into the station I simply went with 'look it has been really nice talking to you but I have to go, do you fancy continuing this conversation some other time', number swap was done and said that I would call her immediately to ensure I had it down right - did this to stop her giving me a fake number.

Lessons learnt: You dont need to Kino - im not saying Kino is bad, just saying it isnt always needed clearly; learn to relax when chatting to women, treat the conversation like chatting to a friend (but with some extra rules thrown in); just go for it, this is the biggest one for me and something I have been shite at doing since I have been trying to approach women, just ask for their number, if it goes wrong it goes wrong, at least you tried

Felt fucking amazing when I stepped off the train after number closing, still do in fact, part of me now wants to simply go sarging women on the street Off to the pub to meet some mates though so maybe something will turn up at the pub.