Alison Taylor on relationships: Let's bring back good-old-fashioned copping off in a dark, hedonism-drenched space
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Your support makes all the difference.Pulled anyone in a club lately? There's nothing quite like the twilight hours, throbbing music and close bodily proximity to get you in the mood, is there? Of course, this is at odds with what the dating experts would have us think. Apparently, we should all be joining clubs rather than going to them. "Join a book club!", "Start acting classes!" preach those 'Best Places to Meet Men' articles.
Then there's the well-worn supermarket suggestion... "You can tell a lot about a person by the contents of their shopping basket". Er, it's a no from me. I have no desire to perv over someone's cannelloni in the fancy goods aisle. Nor do I want to take up swing dancing classes any time soon, as one (really miserable) bloke told me he wanted to just before a date. I'm not gonna lie, it put me off.
Nightclub naysayers say you won't meet the right kind of man (erm, one that goes out?), or that said man will be too inebriated. About that: I met a bloke after lunch a few months ago and he was already hammered, so booze-induced buffoonery can strike at any hour.
There's only thing for it: let's bring back good-old-fashioned copping off in a dark, hedonism-drenched space. And if there are smoke machines then, my God, all the better.
Take two weekends ago. I was at Festival No 6 in a very club-like tent, listening to a genuine DJ (Todd Terje) when I was introduced to "Beck". It wasn't the miniature Californian musician as it turned out, but rather a hot civilian dude with a GSOH.
What followed was a magical night of dancing, hugging, joking, flirting... all the good stuff, and with no requirement to read a book before you turn up.
I don't know what the outcome will be with Beck, but I'm glad that I met him and hit it off under the misty lights. We've exchanged texts since, proclaiming the brilliance of the night and our club-meet and our desire to be nowhere else, with anyone else.
Perhaps that's what's so great about clubbing experiences – you lose yourself in the dreaminess of a great night shared. Anything is possible as night creeps to day and you disappear, link-armed, toward the hoped-for next adventure.
Earlier that night, when the real Beck was on stage, he shouted into the crowd: "This is it, savour this moment. We're all here now – it's our night". He was right...
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