Recently I went out drinking to celebrate Christmas Eve.
It was a scene most of you will be all too familiar with. However, just in case any of you are unfamiliar with the delights of the British pub, I will describe what I saw.
Groups of men, mostly young, were standing around, drinking heavily. At the bar, there was a queue of people about four deep. Most were standing, and it looked like they had been waiting a while. There was the odd woman amongst them, but men were very much in the majority. If you are a women in these places lucky enough to have a drink bought and paid for by somebody else, you miss out on the annoyance of queuing.
Still, the men waiting to be served didn’t seem to mind. As soon as it came to be their time to be served, they would shout out their order to the server and wait to receive their drinks.
Suddenly it became clear what a funny situation I was observing. Most of these men were clearly out to enjoy themselves. They had made some effort to dress well, yet it was hard to see who they might have attracted. Most were slowly getting drunk or already drunk.
Now I enjoy drinking and I have done a fair amount of it. But drinking in a pub with no female company seems to be missing the point.
If you’re one of the few sober people in these places, you’re going to have to make yourself separate from all the pissed up boozers. Most women don’t actually mind being approached by men in these places, but no one likes being leered at by a dirty old man.
What I’m slowly coming to realise is that its not the women who make it hard to meet girls, but other men. In other words, if all the idiots stayed at home, their would be enough nice guys (the kind women complain that they never meet) to go around. Just a thought.