Pay phones...
Old-fashioned romantic films are essentially
an emotional workout. Somewhere between the black and white flicker and the
crackle of sound, romantic moments are caught and held captive in our screens,
cueing every single girl to sigh and swoon uncontrollably…followed closely by
every taken girl sighing and swooning uncontrollably. In this fast-paced
millennial life, ambushed by technology, have we somehow lost the excitement of
old-school dating?
Here are old-fashioned dating habits that needs
to be brought back–and stat.
Limited contact and set-in-stone plans
Imagine trying to ‘court’ without the use of
the internet or cell phone for contact. You couldn't over-indulge in
sending two or three word texts every minute, and there was no option of
sending endless selfies with slightly varying pouts and gradually lessening
sunlight as the day rolls on. (That is, unless you wanted to wait a week for
photo development after dropping the film off at a chemist. And even then, hand
delivering a wad of snaps of your face seems so odd. Let’s not do that)
Plans were made, and stuck to. There was no
bailing, no chance of better offers coming in and someone being shunned – dates
were scheduled, penned into a planner and kept.
Men of 2014, care to call us with a plan,
then, gasp, stick to it?
Gentleman’s etiquette
It still feels magical when you meet a man who
holds the door open for you, pulls out a chair and offers to take your coat and
bag – as long as you’re not on the street and you realize that someone has very
politely stolen your personal belongings.
Our culture means that no subject is
off-limits – the media is filled with crass videos, photos and stories of what
people have been caught doing, and whilst we’re stuck in a culture where one
night stands and flings are totally
acceptable, it’s hard to locate someone who won’t be expecting that from you,
or for you to be expected to openly talk about innately personal things because
“that’s what everyone else talks about.”
When was the last time you spoke about
anything other than someone else’s relationship, or what someone else is doing?
Have we lost the ability to have a conversation about thoughts and ideas, instead
of just making commentaries on someone else’s life?
Saving clothes for ‘best’
I am still reminded by my mum to “keep clothes
for best.” And the majority of the time, I can see her logic – like when I inadvertently tan
my clothes instead of my body whilst making the well-informed decision to wear
a white shirt whilst applying self-tanner.
There’s a little luxury in keeping some items
for ‘special occasions.’ I’m not ashamed to say that I have a dress
hanging in my closet waiting for when I meet that guy for that date
assuming I haven’t had an awful self-tanning accident with it before that time
comes.
Dancing under disco lights
Hands up: who has ever been asked to dance?
(and I’m not talking a casual grind under the occasional flash of a strobe
light)
Yeah – me neither.
This one seems to have been completely lost –
we seem to have forgotten the innocence and the mystery of a real dance with a
boy, not knowing what will happen or where it will lead. And I’d take the cute
option over a not so delicate rave where you have to side-step pools of vodka
(and tears) on the dance floor any day. So elegant.
Love letters
If there was a mailing list I could sign up to
and have love letters sent to my door I would do it in a heartbeat. Arguably
there is nothing remotely romantic about a robot spitting out carbon-copy
letters to every sad single girl, but the idea of having something delivered
and dropped through a mailbox is so magical and wonderful – and would
definitely be Instragrammed in a second with a backdrop of candles and rose petals.
These old-fashioned romantic moments are too
good to be lost on the modern world – and, if I’m being completely honest, I
don’t want to be the guy who has to answer the “so how did you two meet?”
conversation with “well, it all started with a swipe to the right on Tinder..”
I just miss the life some days,Rev. G-
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