The Weekly Magazine

The Need For Speed

My heart sunk when I walked into the bar at the Botanical Hotel and discovered it full of plump, middle-aged women. A few minutes later I realized the speed-dating event I was looking for, run by Fast Life, was next door in the Bubble Bar.

When I arrived I was given champagne, a nametag and instructions. The girls at numbered tables and the guys moved between them every eight minutes. If you liked someone, you wrote a “yes” next to their name – it was that simple.

Speed dating proves Einstein’s theory about the relativity of time, because eight minutes can pass by in a flash or stretch out for eternity. Fortunately, everyone I met was pretty friendly, except one who clearly thought she was too good to be there and spend eight minutes whining. It’s amazing how quickly you can decide whether you’re interested in someone or not.

The Christian musician was probably too nice for me. I didn’t like the audiologist, because she told me off for going to loud concerts. I really like the Irish doctor’s cute accent.

I’d struck up a conversation with a lovely woman called Kate while we were waiting for the event to start, and our “date” was the most successful. I wrote “hot” next to her name as a joke, and then later added “yes” to make sure. I’d advise you against using this phrase, as the Fast Life people apparently read what I’d written as “not yes”, and didn’t match us! However, once they’d discovered the mistake we were sent revised e-mails, telling us that we had indeed matched up. Disaster was averted.

I really enjoyed the evening, and think it’s a great way to meet someone -= mainly because you get a chance to chat one-on-one with a group of people who are definitely available. While there’s no guarantee you’ll meet anyone, speed dating will definitely increase your chances. I’d say about half of the people there enjoyed the process, while the rest found it slightly uncomfortable. I’m, sure many of them will give it another go, anyway. You never know – I might too!

Andrew put two “yes” votes and got one date, while five women gave him the thumbs up. The highest number of matches for one person on the night was five. They are going to have a busy weekend!