Member-only story
Table for one, please.
Please don’t confuse alone with lonely.
As you get older, people start to question why you are single even more. Are you going to be the next stereotypical crazy cat person or have you got pathological issues that rear themselves once in a relationship? Whatever the reason may be, many people express worry that you might not be happy and that you are lonely instead. After all, how socially accepted is it to be on your tod?
How many of you are there?
Going back a few years, I was in Queenstown in New Zealand. Not my favourite place there by far, however it’s full of pubs, bars, restaurants and people my age. I was staying in a hostel too, and had met the other guys staying there.
Having spent most of the last month hiking and camping, I had a bit of extra budget and craved some Indian food. Despite the abundance of people around, nobody else was up for it, so I headed to the restaurant on my own.
The waiter greeted me at the door, smiled, and asked ‘How many of you are there?’. I laughed, and said ‘one’ to which I got a slightly surprised nod and an ‘oh’.
(After reciting the same story to my sister, she also had a face of ‘aww/ajoj’ as if it was the worst thing ever)
