Time To Smell The Roses

Some people are of the opinion that when you live in a big city, you tend to adapt to the pace of life there but you know what, I think that recently I’ve slowed down. I’m not quite sure when it happened or when it started to happen but it has occurred to me over the past couple of weeks that my current speed is not quite what it used to be. This became most apparent to me when a woman in her mid to late forties was repeatedly outpacing me to the train station. Which was almost embarrassing. I used to be the one people asked to slow down. Not anymore apparently.

I have always been a bit of a walker. A short trip for me is one that involves at least twenty minutes of striding. That’s part of the reason I have always favoured taller men I think. Apart from the aesthetics thing (yes I know that’s shallow), it meant that even if I was walking slower, I didn’t have to alter my gait. And now it seems I am going slower. I have moved out of the city for home (I don’t really think that the northern side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge can be classified as the inner suburbs) and work (Darling Harbour is not in the suburbs either) and I have been quite happy about that.

Over the past couple of months I have also made a couple of trips to both Orange and Canberra and have been remembering how much I actually enjoy smaller communities. Whereas some people find them suffocating, I kind of like places where people know who you are and you are not a face that gets lost in the crowd. And that just got me thinking about women who have no trouble dating several men at the same time. I am not talking about women who cheat on their partners (that’s another topic entirely) but those who seem to have a never-ending social calendar of dates and prefer to try everything before they buy.

Apart from the fact that I suck at the dating before the relationship bit, I don’t know how they do it. I mean if you attempt to invest emotionally with several people at once to see if you have a true connection, you run the risk of completely tiring and or confusing yourself (well, that and coming across as a tease). If you don’t bother to make an effort then one has to wonder what is the point? When you ask some of these women what they want in a man, some of them profess to seeking a soul mate with whom they can share everything. I am a bit dubious however of the idea that you can be sure if you’ve found this or not based on a short acquaintance.

I think I tend to subscribe to the Pantene view of relationships. You know, ‘it won’t happen overnight but it will happen’? I was reading an article about a matchmaker once and she stipulated that to use her services, you had to agree to meet a match more than once. You need to invest time to get any worthwhile sort of return I guess. It probably helps not having several dates on the go either. I am suddenly reminded of the Sex and the City episodes where Charlotte was trying to juggle two guys in one night and the one where Miranda ended up on call waiting only to realise she wasn’t the only woman. I’d rather not find myself in those situations thanks very much so maybe slowing down and being relaxed is the way to go. If nothing else, its probably less stressful.