Being Single is hard, but being single in Townsville is even harder. Texters from across the city have been complaining to our Editor for months about this very fact. With the city getter larger by the day you have to wonder why so many people are struggling to find Mr or Mrs Right.
According to the 2006 census there was around 30,000 people in Townsville aged between 18-30. Approximately 8,000 of those people were married, 6,500 were in a de-facto relationship and 5,000 students (sorry students but high school has it’s own set of dating rules). So based on these figures that leaves over 10,000 singleton’s roaming the city streets, remembering that Townsville has grown significantly in the last 2 years.
The old rules for dating no longer apply. Going out to Flinders Street on a Saturday night you are bound to run into at least one ex, your cousin, 3 people who are already off the market and several with the sole mission to spend one night with you and then leave you with a fake number and dirty sheets, all of whom are lowering the true love potential in the dating pool. The previously acceptable nightclub introduction has quickly become a thing of past. Although a prime place to see potential mates puffed up like peacocks, sporting new outfits and generally looking their best it is not always conducive to ensuring that the best looking guy or girl is the one for you. Sadly the nightclub has fallen into the hook-up category and soulmate potential needs to be found else where.
Online dating has taken off in the larger cities with singles flocking to dating websites claiming to have matched hundreds of couples. Facebook and My Space have widened the internet dating arena by making it easier to peek, almost stalker-like, into the lives of those who grab your attention. But what about those who would rather sit down and get to know someone instead of chatting online with a person who may or may not be a 50 year old perve who is fantasising about wearing your skin like a new Gucci coat?
Where do all these dateless folks go to meet potential partners? Women’s magazines have been feeding the minds of impressionable young ladies for years claiming they know the secret spots to meet your soulmate. But how many of those journalist actually based their tips on Townsville? How many have ever been here at all for that matter? In saying that it is possible that beneath their big city ideas these women’s magazines do have a point and in some of the most ordinary places you can find The One or at least a date for next Friday.
So, I’m sure your wondering what right I have to be complaining about dating in this city. Well here it is, my credentials so to speak. My name is Candice and yes, I am single. I actually hate admitting that I’m single, people tend to say “So your single” like they just found out I have some weird disease and I’m totally desperate and will chase a man down the street, like a cave woman, for a date. But for me being single, for the most part, is a choice I have made. You see some time ago I got dumped – the kind of dumping where you had no idea it was coming and afterwards realise that all the signs were there and you were just too in love (or too stupid) to notice. After some crying, a year of it to be precise, I decided to forget love and spent the next 3 years focusing on my family and like singleton’s everywhere, my career.
Now I finally feel ready to face the dating world again I have discovered that Townsville isn’t exactly the mecca for young eligible blokes it once was and finding a date is much harder than it used to be. Knowing that I’m not alone in my quest for love has spurred me onto giving Cupid his marching orders and taking up his role.
So to help out my fellow lovelorn Townsvillien’s I will take a leaf out of the women’s magazine’s, well, magazine, and trawl the spots toted by them as the top places to meet people and see if they actually can work in our City. If all else fails I can always go on Farmer wants a Wife.
According to the 2006 census there was around 30,000 people in Townsville aged between 18-30. Approximately 8,000 of those people were married, 6,500 were in a de-facto relationship and 5,000 students (sorry students but high school has it’s own set of dating rules). So based on these figures that leaves over 10,000 singleton’s roaming the city streets, remembering that Townsville has grown significantly in the last 2 years.
The old rules for dating no longer apply. Going out to Flinders Street on a Saturday night you are bound to run into at least one ex, your cousin, 3 people who are already off the market and several with the sole mission to spend one night with you and then leave you with a fake number and dirty sheets, all of whom are lowering the true love potential in the dating pool. The previously acceptable nightclub introduction has quickly become a thing of past. Although a prime place to see potential mates puffed up like peacocks, sporting new outfits and generally looking their best it is not always conducive to ensuring that the best looking guy or girl is the one for you. Sadly the nightclub has fallen into the hook-up category and soulmate potential needs to be found else where.
Online dating has taken off in the larger cities with singles flocking to dating websites claiming to have matched hundreds of couples. Facebook and My Space have widened the internet dating arena by making it easier to peek, almost stalker-like, into the lives of those who grab your attention. But what about those who would rather sit down and get to know someone instead of chatting online with a person who may or may not be a 50 year old perve who is fantasising about wearing your skin like a new Gucci coat?
Where do all these dateless folks go to meet potential partners? Women’s magazines have been feeding the minds of impressionable young ladies for years claiming they know the secret spots to meet your soulmate. But how many of those journalist actually based their tips on Townsville? How many have ever been here at all for that matter? In saying that it is possible that beneath their big city ideas these women’s magazines do have a point and in some of the most ordinary places you can find The One or at least a date for next Friday.
So, I’m sure your wondering what right I have to be complaining about dating in this city. Well here it is, my credentials so to speak. My name is Candice and yes, I am single. I actually hate admitting that I’m single, people tend to say “So your single” like they just found out I have some weird disease and I’m totally desperate and will chase a man down the street, like a cave woman, for a date. But for me being single, for the most part, is a choice I have made. You see some time ago I got dumped – the kind of dumping where you had no idea it was coming and afterwards realise that all the signs were there and you were just too in love (or too stupid) to notice. After some crying, a year of it to be precise, I decided to forget love and spent the next 3 years focusing on my family and like singleton’s everywhere, my career.
Now I finally feel ready to face the dating world again I have discovered that Townsville isn’t exactly the mecca for young eligible blokes it once was and finding a date is much harder than it used to be. Knowing that I’m not alone in my quest for love has spurred me onto giving Cupid his marching orders and taking up his role.
So to help out my fellow lovelorn Townsvillien’s I will take a leaf out of the women’s magazine’s, well, magazine, and trawl the spots toted by them as the top places to meet people and see if they actually can work in our City. If all else fails I can always go on Farmer wants a Wife.
No comments:
Post a Comment