Lesbian speed dating
Alison
Aston, Mon Jul 2 2007
If you’re sick of a scene where a hard, steely stare
is considered a come-on, or you’ve recently considered
offering yourself up to the local nunnery, then lesbian
speed dating could well be the answer to your prayers. I
popped along to see how Pink Date is cutting through the
clutter and saving singletons years of hassle, leaving you
time to enjoy the finer things in life. (Another ‘L
Word’ anyone?)
Nothing short of a benevolent gift to the lesbian masses,
Pink Date was founded by enthusiastic self-starters Liz
and Sandra. The latter, wearing a rather fetching event-branded
T-shirt, recalled with a smile how ‘you’d go
out to bars and clubs and never meet anyone’. And
so, aware of speed dating’s current popularity on
the straight scene, the couple thought: Why not start something?
From its humble Tuesday night beginning six months ago,
LSD has taken off like a souped-up jet. Word of mouth and
a Saturday-night slot have seen gay women from both in and
outside the M25 arriving in their droves, eagerly anticipating
the opportunity to apply a fresh approach to that age-old
lesbian dilemma: where can I find Ms Right and all the trappings?
When I arrived at the Chocolate Lounge’s cave-like
room, the evening was in full swing and the wannabe daters
were not to be disappointed. The meeting was a veritable
sell-out with 30 of London’s finest Sapphic singles
in attendance. What’s more, there wasn’t a shrinking
violet among them, as any and all nerves were calmedby the
hosts’ friendly and professional manner. And for those
ladies who required a little extra reassurance, there was
plenty of good, old-fashioned Dutch courage being served
in the bar upstairs.
Time waits for no woman and as luck would have it, speed
dating is no exception. With only three minutes to win over
a prospective date, the pressure was well and truly on.
As Sandra herself will tell you: ‘People are nervous,
but they soon realise they’ve just got to get on with
it’.
Despite the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it vibe, the atmosphere
felt particularly intimate. With the exposed brick walls,
soft lighting and claret-red drapes, the scene was reminiscent
of a cosy French restaurant, only without the moustachioed
waiters and smelly cheese. Once the women were settled at
their tables, Liz explained the rules. Upon arrival, half
of the participants were given badges with dots and for
the first part of the evening remained seated, playing ‘host’
to the other circulating, dotless women. Fret not though,
the roles were duly reversed later on so that ultimately,
everyone was afforded the chance to play Queen, happily
enthroned at the tables as various courtiers came courting.
Despite the somewhat regal overtones, it was easy to see
that each of the women were making the most of the little
time available to them, some even finding room to squeeze
in that all-important question: ‘Do you want to book
the moving van or shall I?’
Joking aside, spirits were most definitely high and even
if some ladies had been struck by a thunderbolt à
la ‘Some Enchanted Evening’, they moved good-naturedly
on to the next date every time headmistress Liz rang her
three-minute bell.
On a well-earned drink break, I managed to catch up with
28-year-old Katie who said that while ‘you get about
as long as it takes for a kettle to boil… it’s
all about that initial spark’.
She felt that three minutes was enough time to get a sense
of the person and decide whether you wanted to see them
again. ‘Yes, I’ve ticked a couple of boxes’,
she confirmed with a coy smile. ‘So I guess we’ll
wait and see’.
With nothing left to do but link up people who’ve
already expressed a mutual attraction to each other, I’d
say that there’s a pretty good chance that Liz and
Sandra may soon be in need of new hats, as the success of
Pink Date seems to suggest that there may be wedding bells
ringing in the not-too-distant future. So come on Ms Bitter
and Twisted of Ealing – get yourself along. Soon you
too could have more dates than most lesbians have cats.
TimeOut PInkdate Lesbian Review
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