SICK OF BEING TIME-POOR? TAKE A DATE OR A BREAK
By Greg Tourelle of NZPA
Sydney, May 27 - We wondered what we had stumbled into to start with. All the tables at the inner-city Sydney restaurant were occupied by couples. No groups, no all-male or all-female tables.
We were quickly ushered to a back table, the waitress explaining that we could dine there even though it was speed dating night.
Though we weren't taking part, she explained the procedure. The evening was run by a professional dating agency and each person had paid $100 for which they would be wined and dined while meeting 10 members of the opposite sex.
Ten men would revolve around the tables, spending about 12 minutes with each of the 10 women, while a new course was brought out each time. Lest someone be worried about indigestion, the courses were small "yum cha" type meals.
Later, the daters would privately rate each companion and indicate to the agency whether they would like to see a particular person again. The company would arrange this if the other party had given an agreeable rating.
My wife thought the body language fascinating as we spied a blonde woman at the corner table. She seemed to be talking quite happily to the bloke, but no, according to my expert companion, she was guarded. "She doesn't really like him much," my wife said.
When the next budding paramour arrived, the woman was noticeably bubblier. Even this anthropological dunce discerned it. "She REALLY likes him," my expert companion said, with the triumphant air of someone who had matched them herself.
The blonde clearly didn't think much of No 3, her demeanour changing from effervescent to polite.
And then rather miraculously, we managed to stop the voyeurism and get on with our own conversation. But during dessert, we looked up as a man stood, put on his coat and headed for the bar, leaving a startled woman alone with her chocolate mousse.
The waitress gleefully told us another couple had abruptly disappeared together, apparently hitting it off immediately. A perfect rating.
Later, a woman from the dating agency told us they had a great success rate in matching couples from the speed dating events. She said for many professional people, meeting new people was difficult and the agency, which also operates in New Zealand, made it easier for them.
"It's because we are all so time-poor these days," she said.
Time-poor. It's an expression often heard in hustle-bustle Sydney. It's not the only place in the world where people work long hours and take an eternity to commute home, but it has a busy feel to it. People are always hurrying.
So it's good now and then to get away from the rat-race.
We're just back from the Cook Islands, having done just that.
We attended a magnificent wedding of friends -- Cook Island New Zealander and Kenyan -- on the peaceful, relaxed, serene One Foot Island, an islet on the atoll Aitutaki.
Speed dating is not likely to take off in the Cooks. It's time-rich.
We rented a car on Aitutaki from our hosts. It's automatic to sling a seatbelt on, but the host knocked on the car window.
"Don't bother mate, they'll only laugh at you. The speed limit here is only 40kmh."
There's a lot to be said about no televisions, no mobile phones and no Internet. Well there is Internet -- at 50c a minute it's steep, but I faltered in my attempt to escape completely from the outside world. The rugby scores from the weekend I just couldn't do without.
We swam in the lagoon, dined out, drove around the island, read books and still had plenty of time on our hands. So we went to the bar down the road.
The locals were friendly, though many livelihoods have been affected by cyclonic damage. Crops were devastated on parts of Aitutaki, and a cabbage imported from New Zealand was costing $13. So we didn't eat cabbage.
On the way back, Rarotonga seemed a lot busier than it had been on the way over. Those scooters seemed to be travelling too fast.
Then it was back to Sydney. Speeding, tooting cabbies diving in and out of lanes. The usual mayhem. The noise. News items about immigration scandals, Schapelle's sentencing, a league player spitting at another.
Oh bliss.
NZPA SYD gt jm ob
Credit:NZPA
Sydney, May 27 - We wondered what we had stumbled into to start with. All the tables at the inner-city Sydney restaurant were occupied by couples. No groups, no all-male or all-female tables.
We were quickly ushered to a back table, the waitress explaining that we could dine there even though it was speed dating night.
Though we weren't taking part, she explained the procedure. The evening was run by a professional dating agency and each person had paid $100 for which they would be wined and dined while meeting 10 members of the opposite sex.
Ten men would revolve around the tables, spending about 12 minutes with each of the 10 women, while a new course was brought out each time. Lest someone be worried about indigestion, the courses were small "yum cha" type meals.
Later, the daters would privately rate each companion and indicate to the agency whether they would like to see a particular person again. The company would arrange this if the other party had given an agreeable rating.
My wife thought the body language fascinating as we spied a blonde woman at the corner table. She seemed to be talking quite happily to the bloke, but no, according to my expert companion, she was guarded. "She doesn't really like him much," my wife said.
When the next budding paramour arrived, the woman was noticeably bubblier. Even this anthropological dunce discerned it. "She REALLY likes him," my expert companion said, with the triumphant air of someone who had matched them herself.
The blonde clearly didn't think much of No 3, her demeanour changing from effervescent to polite.
And then rather miraculously, we managed to stop the voyeurism and get on with our own conversation. But during dessert, we looked up as a man stood, put on his coat and headed for the bar, leaving a startled woman alone with her chocolate mousse.
The waitress gleefully told us another couple had abruptly disappeared together, apparently hitting it off immediately. A perfect rating.
Later, a woman from the dating agency told us they had a great success rate in matching couples from the speed dating events. She said for many professional people, meeting new people was difficult and the agency, which also operates in New Zealand, made it easier for them.
"It's because we are all so time-poor these days," she said.
Time-poor. It's an expression often heard in hustle-bustle Sydney. It's not the only place in the world where people work long hours and take an eternity to commute home, but it has a busy feel to it. People are always hurrying.
So it's good now and then to get away from the rat-race.
We're just back from the Cook Islands, having done just that.
We attended a magnificent wedding of friends -- Cook Island New Zealander and Kenyan -- on the peaceful, relaxed, serene One Foot Island, an islet on the atoll Aitutaki.
Speed dating is not likely to take off in the Cooks. It's time-rich.
We rented a car on Aitutaki from our hosts. It's automatic to sling a seatbelt on, but the host knocked on the car window.
"Don't bother mate, they'll only laugh at you. The speed limit here is only 40kmh."
There's a lot to be said about no televisions, no mobile phones and no Internet. Well there is Internet -- at 50c a minute it's steep, but I faltered in my attempt to escape completely from the outside world. The rugby scores from the weekend I just couldn't do without.
We swam in the lagoon, dined out, drove around the island, read books and still had plenty of time on our hands. So we went to the bar down the road.
The locals were friendly, though many livelihoods have been affected by cyclonic damage. Crops were devastated on parts of Aitutaki, and a cabbage imported from New Zealand was costing $13. So we didn't eat cabbage.
On the way back, Rarotonga seemed a lot busier than it had been on the way over. Those scooters seemed to be travelling too fast.
Then it was back to Sydney. Speeding, tooting cabbies diving in and out of lanes. The usual mayhem. The noise. News items about immigration scandals, Schapelle's sentencing, a league player spitting at another.
Oh bliss.
NZPA SYD gt jm ob
Credit:NZPA
posted by Leighcat at 4:08 PM
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