A Social Experiment

"I'm a little perplexed by dating habits (if you can call them that) of British men. Here I thought all British men were Colin Firth/Hugh Grant types who learn another language and spontaneously fly to Portugal to ask their lady loves to marriage them. It's like the movies aren't real or something."

Vi, as usual, has hit the nail on the head.

I'm very proud of the fact that my blogging means that WWBD? is international. But this comes at a cost. I have to ruin the Colin Firth/Hugh Grant/Mark Darcy/Mr Darcy dream. It doesn't exist. At all. Or rather, they don't exist, at all. Oh the accent exists. But when you hear it you automatically think 'snob' or 'public school'. Public school over here is not a good thing. Public school types are conceited and arrogant and not in the good Mr Darcy type way.

And now for the dating habits of British men. They don't exist either. A guy over here has NEVER asked for my number. I am forever jealous of Vi's emails where she mentions a guy who asks for her number and then, actually calls. Reference: Popcorn Man. This is how it works in the UK:
* Guy and girl meet in bar
* Copious amounts of alcohol is consumed
* Guy and girl start flirting
* Some type of physical action occurs
* Numbers are exchanged
* Congratulations! You know have a boyfriend / girlfriend. (This may only last for a few hours)
Sometimes you meet up again and then start getting to know each other. There is no (sober) interaction involving friendly chat and then the guy takes your number. I'm sure there is the odd occasion where this does occur- I've yet to witness or experience it.

It's extremely frustrating. I would love for a guy to ask for my number. Even if I wasn't interested I would just like it to happen. I would also like to try the American way of dating. Yes, I'm sure it has its pitfalls, but it seems a heck of a lot better then the system we have over here.

What makes it even more frustrating for me when reading Vi's emails is that I like American men. I don't get the appeal of the British guy (except Mark Darcy, but he is, sadly, a literary figure), they're scrawny and have a severe lack confidence amongst other things. But an American guy? Yes please! You may disagree but they do say that the grass is always greener.

You may think that my opinion on American guys is unfounded and I'm not cutting British guys much slack. So it seems only fair that I conduct a social experiment - and I have a degree in Sociology so I can conduct social experiments. This time tomorrow I will be on a plane heading to the US for the first time in 10 years. Not only am I visiting the wonderful Violet but she has said, nay promised, that I will get to meet lots of cute American men. I can chat to them, see if they really are the confident and funny guys I think they are. I can also see if they actually do this asking for your number thing I hear so many things about (obviously not mine as my weird accent will give it away I'm not from those parts, but I could observe it happening to others).

So I will make the effort to talk to cute guys and report back to you all. It's all in the name of WWBD? Not for personal enjoyment or anything. And I am sorry to ruin the 'British Man Fantasy'. Really I am.