In the shadow of the old and infamous BBC building just down the street from the equally impressive City Hall, Wetherspoons bar in Belfast is in prime location and delivers what you would expect of the brand in any capital city centre. With plenty of tables spread out nicely all across the sizeable bar you can get excellent meals and drinks offers, just, again, like you would expect of the franchise. The atmosphere is cosmopolitan during the day, with business men and students all having brunch, lunch and afternoon meetings in the comfort of its service. During the day it is welcoming (if the bouncers a little less so) providing ambience and a pleasant, relaxing experience. The one thing that stands out in my mind, though, from the visit to this addition to the franchise is the bathrooms. I have never seen more impressively ornate conveniences in any venue before. For this alone it is worth a look.

This chain of rather ornate bar/restaurants that you can find all over the UK always offers a good quality experience, regardless of when you decide to visit. Day time or night time you get drink offers or excellent meals, in a pleasant environment. Yet I discovered the best Wetherspoons in all the cities I have been to, in Liverpool. A massive bar ordained with wine on tap lined with bottles of unique lagers and ciders is the main talking point. Surrounded by a large room which covers the whole corner of one block in the city centre, its filled with almost a hundred tables. The walls of the adults-only area are lined with old first-edition volumes of obscure novels and textbooks from the fifties and further back, which is a nice touch. Whether you wanted to go watch sport or did want to go and meet people of your own age for a civil conversation this is a nice place to go.

Have you ever been to a “silent disco”? Did you ask yourself, once inside, why you have been to a silent disco? I know I did. I have yet to attend a more pointless themed night at any nightclub, and I have attended 80s night, “back to school” nights, beach discos and anything else you even care to make up on the spot. The idea behind this “silent disco” was that you enter and choose to either adorn headphones, into which the DJ’s set is piped, or to walk around, talking eerily as you would in a library, and promise not to disturb anyone. I was not there alone, and was in a state in which anything should have seemed funny, but this just seemed strange. And, indeed, the environment is in no way conducive to meeting anyone you may (or may not, more than likely in this case) be interested in. Steer clear.

Here I continue my series on nightclubs to go to in Belfast, with the Limelight. More of a venue than a nightclub it is known for its underground scene live rock gigs and its more alternative feel. With gay nights and club nights to suit more than one taste, however, it is one of the city’s must see venues for those under 25. Its best and most well-attended night is, at the moment, Tuesday, when they choose to open the doors to all three venues in the one complex to clubbers. Its a unique and yet quite genius set up they have there, in the fact that one venue is the alt-rock club, and one is the hardcore clubbers place, which are both split by a rather homely bar. I say this, but the one thing you will notice is that it is notorious for its student appeal. Not for those who want to meet anyone new with any maturity, give it a miss unless you want a loud club night or an alternative gig

Here I continue my series on nightclubs to go to in Belfast, with Laverys. One of Belfast oldest bars, Laverys is found just down from Shaftesbury Square south of, but around five minutes walk from, the city centre. On its three floors it hosts very different environments, with the public bars on the ground floor accepting all sorts and being an excellent venue for watching sports, and the pool floor having what is probably the most pool tables in any one venue in the city. Most importantly for here, though, are its regular club nights (at least three a week during the Autumn and Winter to coincide with the university academic year). Famous for hosting alternative nights for those more partial to a heavy metal sound on the dancefloor, it also hosts nights dedicated to the music of chosen decades. On a Saturday night, though, there are less students about and the top two floors are open with 3 separate musical sets available, one usually being an alternative live music gig for unsigned bands. This is a good place to meet new people at any time, just choose your club night wisely based on your musical ...

Here I continue my series on nightclubs to go to in Belfast, with Thompsons. Found right in the city centre, down a side street round the back of City Hall, you feel like you are going somewhere a little different. Unless you know it’s there, you probably wouldn’t discover it. Built in an abandoned warehouse you enter on the top floor and the dancefloor is found downstairs. With its dingyness disguised with overuse of the smoke machine it is not a bad place to go after closing in other clubs in south Belfast, as it stays open until after 3 am. Everyone, even students, always comment that the music is too loud, but one thing that the place must be celebrated for is the fact that it regularly holds nights in which unknown DJs new to the industry ply their trade. If you’re into House music, this is a place you will like, though, more importantly for this blog, it is certainly not a place conducive to meeting anyone, as you most certainly can’t hold a conversation with anyone.

When you are between the ages of 18 and 25 and looking for a place to meet new people, who indeed could be something more than just a new friend, it can sometimes be difficult to find the right place. Attitudes of those that go to certain places can be annoying, stagnant, aggressive, or just unattractive, to name a few traits of some nightclubs. I hope, in my continuing series, to help people within the demographic of 18 - 25 year olds ascertain early on, without having to stay too long in a place, whether it’s worth your time looking there. I want to address this post to students. I’m sure you’ve all been out, on both sides of the atlantic, and felt like either you can’t stand one place or you love another. Whatever your preferences, you are not going to find anything worthwhile other than drinking games in clubs designed to market themselves to students. In the UK in particular, where we have all developed an incredibly unhealthy attitude to alcohol (for numerous reasons I’m sure most won’t even consider which I won’t go into here), you need to look further than the dingy, ...

When I am living single as a woman, I feel good about my life; I have freedom, peace and allowed selfishness. It's a pure joy like. I made a few changes in my thinking and in my lifestyle that allowed me to be happy living single. For the first time in history, in North America, you have more people living alone then with someone. Living single is all about freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of hours of sleep, freedom to go out, freedom of doing what you want, when you want it. Living single as a woman, can it be fulfilling? What makes a life fulfilling is to experience intimacy. When you are feeling closeness with you child, with a parent or with your partner it is a good source of happiness. That is why you can have intimacy with yourself. Intimacy is a feeling of closeness. So find it with yourself. Be close to yourself. To whom you are. Find out what you really like and dislike. Do you like doing woodworking? Would you be happier working on shifts then a 9-5 job? Unless you try it, you can't know about it. Living single is a great situation to experiment and find out more about ...

I was in a bar with a male friend a while back. I was sharing about the few the cute guys that I would have liked to have a conversation with. I added that I was finding it difficult to be with someone. He replied:" I know what your problem is Caroline; you want to be with someone too much" His comment was hurtful to me. That is a clear demonstration that men are action oriented: to him, he was solving my problem. That was his way of being supportive and helpful even if I didn't agree with him I strongly wanted to shout at him: "I am working about 50 hours per week. I dedicated some of my leftover time to training. I have my social life and my relatives. Can I focus at least 3 hours per week on flirting without looking desperate?!" I feel that I am entitled to that. I am sure that you get comments like that once in while. Some are even worse then other ones. It seems to me that as soon as I have a man in my life, I am perceived as having fewer faults then when I am single. Suddenly, people's opinions are shifting to ...

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