fwjc -
Actually, I put an advert in the Times. Something along the lines of
"Good cook, PPL, enjoys bridge, boating, music. Lives near Oxford"
Nobody noticed or recognised the significant trigraph; the dear man I ended up sharing my life with disclosed his interest in flying during many subsequent phone calls. All he twigged was "lives near Oxford!"
But 3 days after meeting, I was teaching him to fly - we never looked back.