Credit Crunch Dating Takes a Dive
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On a date with me, the lucky boy can expect certain things.
The first being that I’ll look good - carefully applied make up, perfect hair and quite often, a brand new outfit. I will make an effort. The second being that I’ll be on good form whatever my mood, and provided the guy is not a total plonker, we’ll have some good banter, a few drinks and plenty of laughs. This is what I bring to the table when invited out on a date.
On the flip side, throughout my dating career, I have found that my effort is often reciprocated, and that in addition to this, my date generally treats me to a spot of dinner and a few drinks. This arrangement has always worked very well for me, and I understand it to be fairly traditional in the dating world.
I recently digressed from my preferred approach of arranging dates on www.clicktonight.com in favour of the 'friends of friends' approach. On one such date, I made the usual effort on my appearance, but made an unusual journey to meet him. He pressed hard for a South London meet up, which meant as a North London girl, I was the one that travelled. He chose a bar-restaurant combo, and was propping up the bar when I arrived with a newly-purchased bottle of beer. After introductions and pleasantries there was no forthcoming drink offer, so I ordered myself a glass of wine.
Dinner was good. We chatted about mutual friends and I knocked back a few glasses of wine, whilst he knocked back a few tap waters. Despite some very tempting starters and desserts, I followed his lead and went for just the one course; I didn’t want to eat alone. Towards the end of a pleasant evening, my mind was ticking over: he didn’t want to travel, he didn’t offer me a drink at the bar, he was drinking tap water at dinner, he went for a one course order. Had the credit crunch hit dating? If so, it was a sad revelation.
Sad as it was, the evening had still been okay (I gave it a 6.4 on my dating scale) and as we wrapped things up, I was thinking I was glad I’d made the effort to come and meet him. But then the bill arrived. He worked out the exact 50/50 split on his phone. I have no issues going dutch so chucked the required notes on the table. But then, la pièce de résistance: he carefully unfolded a voucher and placed it on my cash. After an embarrassingly long discussion with the waitress regarding its validity, it was accepted. So I had paid whilst he got one free! Outrageous! Although I admired his cheek, I felt my effort on a great new outfit had certainly not been reciprocated.
So by regressing from my modern way of arranging dates and returning to the land of the traditional, I had ended up on the most untraditional date of my career. But certainly a story to lighten up the all-too-frequent conversations about the credit crunch.
- Clicked Up
On the flip side, throughout my dating career, I have found that my effort is often reciprocated, and that in addition to this, my date generally treats me to a spot of dinner and a few drinks. This arrangement has always worked very well for me, and I understand it to be fairly traditional in the dating world.
I recently digressed from my preferred approach of arranging dates on www.clicktonight.com in favour of the 'friends of friends' approach. On one such date, I made the usual effort on my appearance, but made an unusual journey to meet him. He pressed hard for a South London meet up, which meant as a North London girl, I was the one that travelled. He chose a bar-restaurant combo, and was propping up the bar when I arrived with a newly-purchased bottle of beer. After introductions and pleasantries there was no forthcoming drink offer, so I ordered myself a glass of wine.
Dinner was good. We chatted about mutual friends and I knocked back a few glasses of wine, whilst he knocked back a few tap waters. Despite some very tempting starters and desserts, I followed his lead and went for just the one course; I didn’t want to eat alone. Towards the end of a pleasant evening, my mind was ticking over: he didn’t want to travel, he didn’t offer me a drink at the bar, he was drinking tap water at dinner, he went for a one course order. Had the credit crunch hit dating? If so, it was a sad revelation.
Sad as it was, the evening had still been okay (I gave it a 6.4 on my dating scale) and as we wrapped things up, I was thinking I was glad I’d made the effort to come and meet him. But then the bill arrived. He worked out the exact 50/50 split on his phone. I have no issues going dutch so chucked the required notes on the table. But then, la pièce de résistance: he carefully unfolded a voucher and placed it on my cash. After an embarrassingly long discussion with the waitress regarding its validity, it was accepted. So I had paid whilst he got one free! Outrageous! Although I admired his cheek, I felt my effort on a great new outfit had certainly not been reciprocated.
So by regressing from my modern way of arranging dates and returning to the land of the traditional, I had ended up on the most untraditional date of my career. But certainly a story to lighten up the all-too-frequent conversations about the credit crunch.
- Clicked Up
