No easy way but you did good LL.

Hopefully your “go away and leave me alone” message works better than mine did.

... you might want to stop keeping his hope alive. Just ignore him, don’t send any more basically positive messages (“very glad that I got to meet you”). Honestly, if someone told me that, and told me that they had a “lovely time” with me… I think I’d insist too. I imagine he really thinks you don’t have time, so he just checks in with you to see whether you can make the time to spend with him. Just my 2-1/2 cents.

Lillian Glass wrote about “toxic people”, a book I never read, but I listened to “Attracting Terrific People” through Audible.com, and it was great. If your email works, it’s great, no more worries on that score, but Dr. Glass wrote about breaking off friendships or relationships, and recommended a direct approach being open and honest without hitting below the belt or being hurtful – but it can be done in person, or on the phone, voicemail, or even email. Mel’s probably right that you did good. I just thought about your situation when I listened to that chapter again. Maybe my approach of just tuning people out isn’t always appropriate. My jury’s still out on this question.