When is a Kiss not a Kiss?

There’s one thing that truly puzzles me about communicating via e-mail with a woman – and that is that it nearly always finishes with kisses of some sorts.

It doesn’t even have to be from any one you really know or even met as – in my case at least – some female business contacts I deal with finish their messages with a friendly “Thanks xxx” or just a “x”. Blokes certainly don’t do this – well, not the sort of blokes I know!

So after being told by my Match.com friend that she had “met someone” (as usual blog fans, I romp home in yet another race somewhere near the back of the pack) her e-mails and messages mysteriously stopped finishing with an “x” or three. Although her friendly messages continued (albeit no longer via SMS) there was a distinct lack of them.

But after deciding to dust myself down and fight for her, and in the process rolling out the welcome wagon in an attempt to win hearts and minds, they are back again and I’ve no idea how to react to them. Is she, like apparently half the women out there in e-mail land, just being friendly and polite, or is there something else meant from it?

I mean, should I respond in kind – is she expecting me to - or is it just something we blokes should never consider doing? I’ve not done it in the past – perhaps that’s where I’ve being going wrong - so should I start doing so now?