IF you had to guess what the two most hated words in the world were for a single female over the age of 35 living in Oxford, what would you say?

“Still single”? No.

“Recently divorced”? Wrong again.

“Leprosy sufferer”? Close.

It’s actually “Orange Wednesday”. (Although “leprosy sufferer” does run a very close second).

Now, like any self respecting female, I love a good buy-one-get-one-free offer. I’d even go as far as saying I respect the genius who came up with an idea that makes people go to the cinema or a restaurant on a night when they really didn’t want to. The bit I don’t like is my colleagues borrowing my mobile phone every Wednesday to get a free ticket that I will never use.

For those of you who don’t know me (which would be all of you, except my mum, who will be reading this 10,000 miles away in Australia, because I will have cut it out of the paper and sent it to her), my name is Sue, I work at the radio station JACKfm; I’m 37, I’ve been living in the UK for just over 10 years and... (dramatic pause) I’m still single.

Before I moved to Oxford I didn’t really give this much thought. I’ve had two long-term relationships in my life, have been lucky enough to experience that feeling of finding your soul mate, and unlucky enough to experience losing him. Hell, I was even engaged for about five years! Although not to the soul mate. But that’s a long story.

There are two reasons I find myself thinking more and more about still being single at 37 – the first is I now work with a colleague who has not only taken to calling me “up on the shelf” Sue, but has also written a song with lyrics to that effect. Surprisingly though, the even bigger reason the scourge of being single is on my mind is the sheer amount of social opportunities living in Oxfordshire gives you.

Last week, due to several work functions (and general laziness in the kitchen) I managed to be out most nights. Thai on Sunday, The Mal on Monday, The Black Boy Tuesday, Pizza Express on Wednesday, and drinks in Summertown on Friday. Now, don’t get me wrong, that was a rare action-packed week for me – usually anything in the ‘expires tomorrow’ food group will do for dinner – but last week’s little social overload did highlight something I was only vaguely aware of until now. Thanks to voucher deals, midweek discounts, and those dreaded “Orange Wednesday” offers which seem to draw even the cheapest of my friends out on a weeknight, there is no longer any escape for us singletons.

Where once you would only find business people and work colleagues out ‘because they had to be’ , you now find happy, content looking couples everywhere.

Anyone free next Wednesday?