RELATIONSHIPS: It's not raining men, ladies

SINGLE girlfriends have recently been posing the timeless question, where do you meet men?

It's the case of the man drought for many Australian towns. . Picture: Cathy Yeulet

SINGLE girlfriends have recently been posing the timeless question, where do you meet men?

The perception of a man drought has probably been prompted by the change in season. Single men are staying indoors, watching the football or Top Gear, or having a pizza or poker night with their friends.

A drastic shift of location, to New York or Seattle, has been proposed by some tired of waiting for men and the prospect of sex to come back into view. And, let's be candid: according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, things are getting worse in Australia if you're a single woman on the hunt.

Throughout most of the twentieth century, there were more men than women but, since 1979, women have slightly outnumbered men.

So back to the tricky issue - if you are a single lady, where do you find an attractive, single man? The answer is both simple and complicated. On one hand, you can find a single man anywhere - at the deli, at your gym, on the street, in a train or bus. But where are you more likely to find a man of marriageable age who is actually single, and has not just been sent to grab something for dinner?

If you live on the coast, you are less likely to meet a single man than if you live in the country. And, if you want to move to a mining or farming town, your chances of meeting a single country bloke will probably improve.

The ABS reports that most of the places with more men than women are mining towns, such as Newman and Tom Price in Western Australia. Apparently there are also some quirky but bountiful testosterone pockets. In Kirkconnell in NSW (home to a minimum security prison), and Edinburgh in South Australia (home to a Royal Australian Air Force base), men way outnumber women. I can hear those fingers clicking over Jetstar flights to Adelaide now.

Worldwide there are also certain locations that have a disproportionate number of single blokes. These include Alaska, Las Vegas and China where, by 2020, statisticians predict there will be 24 million more men than women.

But if you're not planning a global trek to land the man of your dreams, the best place to start is a hardware store or a boating/fishing/camping store. Men love these places - they're not in Spotlight looking for a craft project for the weekend.

Feel free to drag out your cheesy one liners such as "can you tell me what kind of screw I need?" or "do you think this rod/tent is big enough?" Combine it with a nicely fitted outfit and a smile. Oddly, men are less likely to make passes at women who wear their old trackie and ugg boots to the store.

That said, if you really want to run into the man of your dreams the sure fire method is - remember you are out of milk, duck down to the corner store in your daggiest outfit with unwashed hair hoping you don't run into anyone you know and, boom, there he is, at the counter, stocking up on salt and vinegar chips.

So listen up, single ladies.

Good venues: fishing, boating or other sporting clubs; sports grounds, hardware stores, the public bar, trendy book stores or cafes, building sites, the weights room at the gym.

Bad venues: yoga classes, craft stores, department stores, spas or beauty salons, expensive hairdressers. Happy hunting!