Its must have been something to do with the weather last week but as soon as Halloween has set in it's like Britain has officially declared that we are in the thick of winter! There was mist in the air and for the first time it became apparent that summer was over. During the following days I noticed I was, however vintage, getting poked on Facebook and I had exes getting in contact in the early hours of the morning!
It had become winter, coinciding with Richmond parks deer rutting season London's single community starts rutting for a winter partner suddenly haunted by the thought of last year waking up on a Sunday hangover and alone with know one to cuddle. This is something to be avoided at all costs. Last Sunday was one of those days, there was torrential rain outside and I was nursing a bad hangover. I received a text from someone I had snogged a few times several years ago that had recently moved to the SW area and very kindly pondered at the idea that I might want to come round for a Netflix and a Chill.
I smiled naively thinking what a lovely thing to do, come over on a Sunday, get sushi delivered and watch a classic London based rom com staring a spectacle sporting Hugh Grant. I happily accepted and I was looking forward to the evening!
Now it was only a few hours before my friend was expecting me, when my lovely YouTuber friend Emily Hartridge posted a video on Facebook on 'The 10 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Netflix And Chill'. I was shocked! That was exactly the expression she had used for our Sunday evening!
Have I been living under a rock?? Apparently this expression is a open invitation for a fully bona fide shagging session, even rappers are rapping about it and magazines are doing surveys on it. Somehow I had been completely oblivious to this!
For someone on a reality show that has a focus on friends at times having sex with each other, I should have listened harder from the off set, apparently everyone is talking about it.
We are a country who are famed as the third most romantic in the world... but we are now using the lure of watching eighties rom coms and getting takeaway dim sum as a fully open no strings attached sex session?
Have we entered a new development in dating? Have we got bored of trying to find 'The One' through every dating app that we could swipe a finger at. The realisation that many of us have become bored of the idea finding someone, but sex is always an ever existing need in our life, does the idea of casual sex becoming more realistic, does it just make more sense? Are we in a new era of relationships?
With such a huge variety of options to date, yet the growing impossibility of finding the one, is the idea of a partner for Netflix and Chill becoming a very viable option and the beginning of a development into a new age and perception of dating. We are taking this as a simple and funny term for casual sex, but is there more to this?
For now, we don't know, but next time you're invited for a Netflix and Chill make sure you dig out your razor, spray perfume and have a bloody wonderful time because Netflix and Chill may well be coming to an inbox near you!