‘Out tonight?’ The inevitable enquiry I’ve been dreading since the other end of the street is met with silence, an almost guilty shake of the head, and finally an awkward apology. I’m wearing jogging bottoms, my hair is scraped back on top of my head, and I’m possessively clutching a box of Coco Pops. No, I can safely say I’m not ‘out tonight’.

Living in Jesmond can offer an interesting blend of residential and student life, but nightclub promoting outside supermarkets is one element of student culture I could do without. As a Third Year, it almost shames me to admit that I’m not out every night, but these days I’m more of a biscuit-and-hot-chocolate-Homeland-watching kind of girl. Furthermore, if I have, in fact, decided that a good night out is what I need, a cardboard flyer shoved, almost violently, under my nose is hardly likely to influence my decision.

I, for one, feel uncomfortable with such in-your-face advertising, and it can’t be much fun for the poor shmucks doing it. It’s cold. Put your flyers in the bin. Go home. Go and get ready for the night out you’ve been enthusiastically aggressive about promoting. And stop making me feel depressed about my plans to stay in and ‘read a good book.’ Accosting me on the way for some late night snack buying is probably not going to endear you to me at this particular time.

It baffles me that, while we are the product of ‘The Digital Age’, those organising the ‘night out of your life’ are still resorting to sending out a couple of overly attractive promo-girls/guys to lie in wait for innocent, casually-dressed supermarket shoppers, with some pretty humdrum flyers made of reinforced paper (think of the rainforests people!), in order to spread the word. What about Facebook, or Twitter? Maybe a couple of posters, here and there. Much less invasive.

I’m not some Gollum-like creature that detests sunlight and joy. I always take a leaflet. Sometimes, I even take two. I feel sorry for them. They may be getting paid, but it’s pretty dull stuff. I’m thinking of petitioning. Let’s get leaflet holders built by the entrances of supermarkets in Jesmond, solving two problems. 1. Nightclub promoters don’t need to waste valuable hours of their lives hanging about on street corners attempting to rid themselves of 500 bits of cardboard and 2. The rest of us can do our grocery shopping in peace.

Having said that, being the hermit-like miser that I am, I think from now on, I’m going to stick to home deliveries.