The Eavesdropper

Picture it. A cafe-tearoom at 8:30 in the morning. Almost deserted, but for a small group of people in a huddle. Their coats still on, pouring over steaming cups of coffee, I am greeted by their morning faces. I sit with my back to them and order my caffeine shot. I grab my note-pad and pen. Fittingly armed with my writing weapons, I prepare for battle; one inner voice against the other. What in the name of Shakespeare am I going to write about? Shall I write about that? No, that’s been hashed over a million times. I could write about that subject. No, would sound pretentious. The battle ensued as I sipped my caffeinated fuel.  From beyond my thought skirmishes, I suddenly heard the voices behind me. My ears became zoom-lenses as they honed in on the conversation. “I have a dermatologist friend and she said that the 10 worst things for your skin are; smoking, smoking, smoking, smoking …. And so she went on. “What is good for your skin is lots of sex”. This produced some sniggers and I suppose I sniggered inwardly. Well, that got me thinking. Sex is good for many things, but skin I hadn’t thought about. A man with an alternative look chimed in; “I think women look good who don’t feel conscious about their appearance, that aren’t hung up about the extra pound here or there. It’s the confident ones that catch my eye”. This was actually no news to me. Men do tend to fall for the ‘power chic’. Confidence is an aphrodisiac. But to see this man’s views as representative of the general male public, to go as far as saying that men fall for women’s poise rather than appearance is pushing the bounds of reality. I can’t see that man in the cafe being turned on by Angela Merkel, even if she was wearing her power-suit, just because she is self-assured. No, I think more factors are at play here when it comes down to attraction. Men are generally visual creatures and like their eye-candy, so unless that man is a one-off freak of male nature, I would say that the ideal for most men is being in good physical shape, having an attractive face and then to top it all off, good doses of self-confidence. However, there might be the odd man who would argue this and claim that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ no matter what the figure or face. Perhaps Angela Merkel would get a look in after all!