One comes to the realization that the days of romance have long gone when the only thing his wife told her before leaving in the morning is “we’re out of butter.” It throws you right back to the good old times when there was so much to explore both around the town and from each other when you take someone out for a date.
My perfect date must be one to a bookstore. I know what you are thinking but no, it isn’t for chance to show off to a girl. Quite the opposite the place offer you an unprecedented chance to get to know your company. What’s the first title that’s catch her eyes? Which novel was her high school favorite? Let her tell you all about the time she spent in libraries and in bed reading. Watch her eyes shine when you find something interesting and see what she dislikes. The best part of it is, it all happens spontaneously. In the unfortunate case that your date isn’t exactly the reading type, kindly relocate to the manga session and pretend you don’t like Sailor Moon and let her argue with you. Or if she’s more of the progressive type, ask her about Beauvoir and sit back admiring her lecturing you for being part of the patriarchy. This is so much better than going to a movie because the possibility of topics is endless and they present themselves to you even when you’re out of idea.
The key here is to find the right kind of book shop. It can’t be too small. I’m all for boutique book shops but they don’t offer enough room to roam nor the variety of collection to accommodate the potential width of your date’s reading appetite. Finally there should be a quieter corner where you have to lower your voice talking to her ear.
I can not recommend a better way to get to know a soul than this. Sadly there is almost no place suitable now in Macau. People read less and buy even less physical books. Rent goes up. I was also told that shopkeepers with reasonable knowledge and passion for books are in short supply.
There used to be a second option, thrift shops. However those are even harder to come by these days. For one thing it take a lot of space to handle second handed goods. In addition people in town are not exactly in need to save by shopping thrift. Just look at the charity store of Casa Clarita, a lot of people donated stuff they don’t want but there isn’t nearly enough hands to organize and clean them. It would be also an excellent choice to go if you wanna know more about what your date likes, if there’s a well stocked and reasonably clean thrift shop. Sorry to report to our readers, there’s none here. I must stop now, apologies, to go down and fetch butter if I may.
*Columnist of Plataforma
