ENCOUNTERS – Where to find a Dateable Man in London (Miss 32)

Posted on November 3, 2013 in 30 Dates, Dating Commentary, Dating Experiments, ENCOUNTERS

There are 30 Different Dating Experiment topics, and to kick things off, each of the Experimental Daters has chosen his or her own topic to investigate. Miss 32 has chosen to explore ‘Encounters’, and here’s an introduction to her take on the Encounters Experiment.

Miss Twenty-Nine xxx

Every day I am greeted on my way to work by adverts on the London Underground with one sole purpose – to remind me that I am a single woman living in London.

If it’s not pictures of happy couples with the date, time and location of where their “LoveStruck”, it’s the cruel notion of “if I knew everyone on this tube/escalator was single” then it would be oh so much simpler to get a date each Wednesday!

Instead I’m left trawling through the many pictures on Tinder like I’m playing a game of Snap (more like a game of Patience in my opinion) or looking at profiles on POF desperately trying to avoid the continual requests I seem to receive of “whether i had ever considered a f**k buddy”. Future marriage material, indeed?!?!

But I refuse to give up. I mean, how hard can it be to find a man in London?

Don’t get me wrong- it’s not that I’m expecting Mr Darcy to suddenly come striding onto the Northern Line one day and whisk me away to an idyllic island where we forever laze in hammocks under the starry night skies sipping on cocktails out of freshly collected coconuts…..

….. I’m just looking to strike up a simple conversation with a man with an attractive personality, amazing eyes and impeccable manners. This, apparently, is a lot harder than it should be – hence my Experimental Challenge:

“Where to find dateable men in London”.

Now, it probably doesn’t help that over the many years spanning my teens, my twenties and now early thirties, I have developed a warped and idyllic sense of how couples meet.

The majority of my friends met their significant others at school, university, at work or through friends Films seem to tell me that I either need to change my career and become a lawyer (Legally Blonde) a barmaid (Coyote Ugly) or a Hooker (Pretty Woman) or that I simply need to just give up and scan the Yellow Pages and purchase one for myself (The Wedding Date).

My friends always tell me “You’ll find someone and then you’ll be married with children within the year” – A somewhat speedy turnaround of events, but a very sweet sentiment nonetheless. But they clearly haven’t watched ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ !

Sometimes I find, when you’re with your girlfriends, getting much needed advice and encouragement, you also need to get a short sharp dose of reality. You need to remind yourself that life isn’t a movie, and that you are not ‘the exception’, but the ‘rule’. And that is perfectly fine.

One thing I’ve also started to notice as I get older is that the number of single friends I’m introduced to seems to get increasingly smaller.

Someone suggested I just get new friends, but that seems a tad drastic, and also a little harsh when you consider I’ve known some of these people since I was fourteen! So instead we came up with a new plan!

Over the next few months, along with my few remaining single girlfriends, I’ll be trialling a number of different locations and dating options, in an attempt to see just how easy it is to find a guy. Not necessarily ‘The One’, but someone I’d like to date.

So far we’ve come up with the following ideas, but I’m also open to suggestions –

Sport – Rugby Match/Football Game
Exercise – Gym, Yoga, Running club
Drinking – A nice, normal pub that sells ales, beers and “man” drinks after work and also again on a Saturday/Sunday afternoon “post-match”, i.e. not the Cocktail/Wine bars I love to visit in the City
The Commute – Overground, Underground, Station Platforms, Escalators, Buses and Morning Coffee Shops (Starbucks in my case!)
Online – Tinder, POF, E-Harmony, Match.com, LoveStruck
Friends – House Parties, Blind Dates
Weekend Grocery Shopping – I’m thinking of seeing if i can find myself a Waitrose / Sainsbury’s man to go on a date or two with, just so long as he isn’t a Poundstretcher guy!

I’ll keep you posted on how successful we are during these Encounters, and of course share any tips and lessons we learn along the way…….

Wish me luck!!

Miss 32 xx