And there's also a substantial number who are just quietly living their lives and are accepting / embracing being single.
In my rural area it's perhaps more obvious but if you go on to the OLD platforms here, you'll see the same people literally year after year. On the other hand, I can think of at least 4 bachelors in just my small village of about 500 people. Thinking it through, there's probably at least twice that number of single women.
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Out of curiosity I pulled up the official government census data for my small village. As of 2016 there were a total of 230 "private households". Of those 85 are occupied by one person. 15 lone parent families. 20 people who listed their status as "separated", 30 "divorced" and 35 "widowed". There was also 105 as "never married" and 190 as "not married and not living common law" - but that would also include young people living with their parents I would think. So 85 people - or 19% of the population are people who have been in a relationship but no longer are. Just in my small village.
So my unscientific gut feeling is actually overwhelmed by the real data.
Of those people - and again, unscientific and based on the women I have seen on the OLD sites, I think there are 3 that have been my neighbours over the years. So a very small fraction even allowing that what I have seen is filtered for women above 45 and under 70.
Not that this is truly helpful information in finding a partner, just showing that there is undoubtedly a large pool or people out there that doesn't show up on OLD.
For me, I find OLD too "high pressure". I've got stuff to do other than look for someone. I know that many women when they reach middle age - which Ginger (sorry for the hijack!) isn't anywhere near - are just tired of taking care of others and feel a lot of relief to not have to any more. For me, being twice burned (three times if you count my marriage) makes me reluctant to put myself out there. For the bachelor who lives 2 doors down from me, he has pretty much the exact same story except that he never got married. Why take the chances if it's easier not to?
Just my 2 cents.
On BD H52, W50 T27, M26 S21, D23 BD-9-Mar-16 D-15-Jan-18 Final-19-Apr-18 I am a storyteller. The story may do you no good. But a story is never for the listener. It is always for the one who tells
