Lose yourself: Why knowing set times in advance ruins a night out

Here’s a scenario.

It’s a Friday night, and the event that had you jumping online to catch an early-bird has finally come around. It’s a carefully orchestrated ritual you know all too well: an attending tick on Facebook, a couple well-timed humble brags filtered out online and a playlist purely for the pre, perhaps.

Chances are you start at home. Or at a mate’s. Because let’s face it, spending those three to four critical hours before the main event haemorrhaging money into a drinking establishment, for a night that will probably end with you curled up in a cold, duvet-less ball somewhere that is not your home, is not the answer (Afters or the after-life? It’s hard to tell these days.)

So, you warm-up for proceedings in the comfort of a sofa and Sainsbury’s finest. And then that question – what time do you leave the house? If the DJ, a favourite of yours and your mates, has been splashed across socials as making their 60-minute mark on your life well into the early hours, there’s no point heading out early is there?

Well yes, yes there is.