PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2014
PAGE 31
Strengh World
Quirky paper bag speed dating craze lets personality take centre stage
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hile most people rely heavily on looks while speed dating, this new trend in London is forcing people to do the exact opposite – choose by personality. ‘Paper Bag Speed Dating’ doesn’t allow you to see the face of the person you’re talking with. It’s basically a looks-free hookup party, where participants place a paper bag over their head. You still get to make quick decisions just like with regular speed dating, but the deciding factor is personality, not physical appearance. Paper Bag Speed Dating is the brainchild of the people
behind a new London-based dating app called LoveFlutter. They organised the event as a part of their #SayNoToShallow campaign. “Could you get a date using just your personality?” they asked, challenging people to attend their paper bag dating event. 30 women and 30 men signed up. They were given a paper bag each and were asked to personalize them using various designs – they could add quirky personal messages to serve as conversation starters. Later, they had to wear the bags on their heads. Some people did beautiful drawings, while others wrote stuff like “I used to be a spy,” or “Does my head look big in this?”
“I have three kidneys,” and “Secretly, I want to be a hand model,” were some of the other messages displayed on the bags. 24-year-old Jacques, who attended the event, said: “It wasn’t as materialistic as normal speed dating and you actually do get to know their personalities.” “It was an interesting balance to Tinder and Grindr, but also quite difficult as it’s hard to get to know someone in two minutes,” added Ian Maddison, 31. “Your first impression does include how people look and that was denied.” 29-year-old Sophia said that she thought a few people revealed more about themselves than they would in a normal face-to-face meeting. Most participants agreed that the event.
Dubbed the ‘thinking person’s Tinder’, the event was a big hit in London and is soon to hit other cities like New York. “We’re reminding people that using a dating app isn’t just a game of superficial swiping, especially if you’re looking to get on an actual date, where looks do matter, but it’s personality that counts,” said co-founder David Standen. Of course, the app itself doesn’t have pictures of people wearing paper bags, but they do blur out pictures. This forces people to read the bio section and actually find out something about the person they might end up meeting. Apart from this one distinguishing feature, LoveFlutter is pretty much the same as all other dating apps.
It’s nice to get to know someone before finding out what they look like, but it’s going to be interesting to see how these relationships progress once faces are revealed. Experts feel that LoveFlutter might really be on to something great. “With the obsession of the selfie and digital narcissism, more and more focus is placed on looks alone,” said Research Psychologist Dr. Andrea Kallias. “We all want an attractive partner, of course, but what we need is someone who is psychologically compatible. As Dr. Romas ChamorroPremuzic, professor of business psychology at University College London puts it: “Wit is sexier than looks and unlike looks it determines long-term compatibility.”
Stuck in time – meet the man who lives like it’s 1946
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5-year-old Ben Sansum isn’t very impressed with high-tech gadgets, modern appliances or the internet. Instead, he prefers the old-world charm of the 1940s. So when he purchased a small four-room Victorian cottage in Godmanchester a few years ago, he worked very hard to transform it into the perfect period house. Now, he lives surrounded by furniture and appliances that are all from the forties or older, and even adopts a 1940s-style dress code. Ben’s strange interest in the forties began at the age of 12, when his Great Uncle Stan gave him a 1940s radio. “I guess I was always the funny boy at school that had this strange interest,” he said. “Gradually, as I grew older, I loved the music and the fashion. I’m 35 now, my parents probably think I’ve grown out of it, but I will always live by this now. I know I will never grow out of it. I shall probably die living like this. But that’s fine, because I’m ensuring that their way of life isn’t forgotten.” “I couldn’t live in a modern house now with modern interiors,” Ben admitted. “I like this period, I
Ben Sansum
like the community spirit. I don’t want to glorify the war, I like all the things that took people’s minds away from the war, the music and the fashions and the cars. Things were British-made and built to last.” And he’s filled almost ever corner of his house with these old objects that look as good as new. Right from an Aga that heats a large white kettle, to the several tea tins
and boxes of war time food stacked up on his shelves, everything in his house serves as a reminder of the good times. He makes his tea in a period kettle, and serves them in 1940s tea cups. According to Ben, the ‘heart of the house’ is the Victorian range in the kitchen. It’s from the 1890s, fully restored and in perfect working condition. “It’s
marvelous, I use it all the time in winter, it’s fantastic. Endless supply of hot water, great fun. But hard work – blacking the range every day is filthy.” He also loves his Victorian age master bedroom. “It’s more Victorian up here, because in the thirties visitors used the best room, so it’s the best where you have all your art decor and modern stuff,”
Ben explained. “But the older part of the house where the visitors wouldn’t see, you have all the hand-me-downs, the Victorian furniture.” Ben inherited most of his collectibles from his relatives, but he’s worked hard to hunt down some of the great pieces of furniture in the house. The 1930s three-piece suit that he now uses as decor, and his set of flying ducks, came from a nearby house. Some pieces aren’t originals, but well-made replicas of things that were used in the forties. He uses an Ewbank carpet sweeper to keep his lounge spotless, and he even has an original lavatory in an old outhouse in the garden. There’s also a gas mask ready for use in case of an air raid, like they had during the war in the forties. “My absolute pride and joy is our locally made mangle here,” he said gleefully. “My grand mum actually used this, it belonged to a neighbor of hers. It was made right here in our town and it’s Victorian, again. It’s survived a hundred years. What can you buy now that you’ll still be able to use in a hundred years’ time? It’s incredible, really.”