First a disclaimer - I haven't been trying out speed dating myself. But I was able to observe the German form of this "sport" at close hand the other night.
I was on my way into town on the S-Bahn (underground) to meet my friend Roland for a beer and a Flammkuchen at Ackermanns, a pub at the southern end of the city. Getting off at Schwabstrasse, I noticed there were uncharacteristically many people on the platform for 7:30pm on a Tuesday night. Walking closer, I saw a collection of high drinks tables, and a few young men and women standing around sipping Sekt. Rather bizarre, I though to myself. But also official looking - signs in the official livery of Die Bahn indicated boarding for "Carriage 2", etc. Very odd indeed. Some kind of product launch? In Schwabstrasse?? It was only when I got to the "Check in" counter dispensing the heart shaped chocolates that the penny dropped - I was witness to the latest craze to sweep the city, S-Bahn Dating.
I'm not really sure of the mechanics of this rather novel approach for meeting a mate, but I can only assume it involves riding up and down the S-Bahn line between the four central stations of Stuttgart, chatting to like-minded members of the opposite sex for no more than a minute, then moving onto the next station. Precisely why one would select a railway platform as a venue for this kind of party I don't know. The whole thing only gets more odd the longer I think about it...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment