Hinge in real life: A Bristol Valentine’s Night

Having Valentine’s Day fall on a Saturday night this year means, simply put, that clubs across Bristol will be profiting from this capitalist ritual alongside every other romance-fuelled establishment in the area. Whilst all the couples will be off galavanting around Clifton, soaking in the love in the air, surrounded by an energy that can only be described as a love-infected epidemic, the rest of the singletons will be taking to the streets to experience the clubs in a new light, it will be Hinge in real life.

Think about it: Every single club will be completely void of couples, making it free rein for all the single people on this year. Now, there are two ways you can view this upcoming evening: A wonderful excuse to snog the sexiest person in the club, or a cursed opportunity for people you’d usually avoid to take pity on your single existence and find an excuse to hit on you. I can only imagine that Saturday night will be an almost apocalyptic experience, with all the single people left at the end of the night picking up whoever else is left over, as if they’re the last people on the planet.

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Walking around uni at the beginning of the week to gauge attitudes towards this unique experience, the responses have been a mixture of fear, excitement, and complete disinterest. Whether you plan on going out or staying in, the energy and expectation in the air is palpable, and the tension could be cut with a knife. I expect this energy will continue to manifest until we’re all finally let free on Saturday night, where the inevitable two-hour queue to get into OMG will be. And instead of being in a panic about who’s going to run to the loo first, there will be an animalistic man-hunt to find potential mates for the evening.

At this point it almost feels necessary to question how we’ve gotten to this point: from being courted by potential suitors (yes, a cheeky Bridgerton reference), to the mating ritual that mirrors a more “Sex and the City” experience of dating. In this introduction of a single-fest Saturday night, there will be no more hiding behind screens and your Hinge profile, instead of matching with 20 different people that will never amount to anything: you now experience the swipe system in real life: A gruelling, self-deprecating experience? Sure, but a fun one too.

So whether you view this as a curse, or as a fun excuse to let your hair down- just remember, we’re only young once and this is the time to have fun! Being single is the most freeing experience in your early 20s and it is a blessing to be independent and liberated, so whether you have the most awful time Saturday night, or you get ‘lucky’, it does not matter- as long as you’re having fun doing it.

In the wise words of Carrie Bradshaw: “Being single used to mean that nobody wanted you. Now it means you’re pretty sexy and you’re taking your time deciding how you want your life to be and who you want to spend it with.”