Best hobbies for a 30 year old guy to meet single women?

Dress up a bear while hiking and they will choose you. 😂

I'm happily single but I might be an outlier, I just prefer my own company.

I think only an eejit would use a dating agency these days, it's common knowledge that they are a waste of money, definitely just someone advertising there services. Unfortunately whether it's OD or meetup it's a numbers game where you have to go through a few interactions of no spark before you find that spark with someone. Meetup groups can be a very good way to meet women.

I always found the dating game hell! Thank God I'm married with a couple of kids and hopefully don't have to go through that sh!te for years to come…hopefully not ever.

A couple of anecdotes that highlight some of the problems.

Back in the day I was asking an older colleague before about this girl on the bus that I used to travel to work on. We were regularly 'exchanging glances' as the song goes. He said go for it….but he explained that his younger sister was in the same circumstances once and the guy in that situation did ask her out. She was really attracted to the guy and she was hoping he would make a move. But when he did, she was so shocked that she told him that she had a boyfriend. She could also see in his face that his soul was crushed. And she was kicking herself after. This is the type of thing that happens when people have no bad intentions. As for my situation I just let it go.

Second story: Back just before I emigrated, I was walking my dog late in the evening. I saw four women (my age) walking toward me who I used to hang out with back when I was in my late teens up to mid twenties. I was about 36/37 when this happened. Between me and the four women was another guy also walking in the same direction as me. The women were like the opening credits from "sex and the city" the way they carried themselves (nothing wrong with that). Obviously dressed up and going out for a drink. The guy was about 45/50 and I knew him to see him. A very average Joe, not one of life's winners. Like a character William H. Macy plays.He even looked like William H. Macy. Anyway all he says to them is when he passed them is…"goodnight ladies". And for that they just shot him down like he was sh!t on their shoe.I thought "Wow,the same four b!tches they were when they were 17!" This is the type of thing that also frequently happens. The irony is they were in reality no better than him and will probably end up settling for someone like him.

Scott Galloway has some interesting opinions on this based on research.The Apps are a disaster and facilitate the delusions of young men and women. The main beneficiaries are only top tier maybe even predatory men.

It's hard to believe it's just over two years until the twentieth anniversary of the beginnings of the financial crash. I got badly burned in that fiasco and it is ultimately why I had to leave Ireland. But here is an image from back then. I am living in a three bedroom end of terrace house as a single man, one year into a forty year mortgage. There is only one married couple who were about to have their first child. Every other house were bachelors and bachelorettes (ratio 6:2 in favor of bachelors). .Single people living in houses built for families. I believe what all of us were actually doing was building nests for our future families that may or may not come. I think most of these houses are being rented out now. This I believe encapsulates the imbalances that have emerged in the last thirty years.

I hope nobody takes this at face value. Women only have hobbies thanks to their husbands??? 🤣

A tennis club is a great one for both genders to meet as it’s often 50/50 numbers wise and plenty of singles - depending on the club. Mountpleasant in Dublin for example has a social membership where you don’t even have to play tennis you just go on the nights out / trips.

I took a drawing class for a few years and its was 50/50 men and women.

I’ve never taken a dance class - like salsa or whatever but I always hear it’s majority women and they are crying out for men to join, but take it seriously and not just go to hit on every woman present or that will be obvious.

Equally, women have stopped going out to pubs. Why put in the effort dressing up and putting on make up when it's far easier to pickup the phone and get some sap to go out with you for a few dates, ditch him and repeat.

There's a separate thread here where all this is played out.

Most women pay their own way these days! And if you’re going on multiple dates with somebody and she hasn’t opened her wallet and you’ve accepted it and ploughed on anyway even if unhappy, then it’s on you.

It’s probably an age thing - I was talking to a colleague in her twenties and she was saying she didn’t use apps nor most of her friends. I think when it comes to over 35s, they often use apps because they have limited means of meeting people, not because they think apps are amazing. Their girlfriends are often settled down with partners and kids and so they don’t have the same opportunities to just head out. I’ve spoken to a lot of women in this space.

A bit like Mornington Crescent then...