Women in Salzburg will again be able to pursue their shopping with abandon over the Christmas period, free from sourpuss boyfriends and husbands.
For the second year in a row, a "nursery" will be set up in the town center where women can leave their partners for a few hours so that they can hunt down all those last-minute presents, without a bored and whining spouse.
In a large white tent set up on Salz-burg's central Herbert-von-Karajan Square, the men will be able to play computer games, leaf through newspapers or magazines such as Playboy, or simply have a drink at the bar with co-suffering "shopping widowers."
PHOTO: AP
From Dec. 13 to 23, women can "surrender" their partners at the tent's entrance free of charge between 4pm and 10pm. They are given a numbered ticket which they then have to present on their return to collect their spouse.
Salzburg toymaker Andreas Stadlbauer came up with the idea of a so-called "Maennerhort" or "men's nursery" last year. It proved such a success - around 1,500 men found refuge there from the shopaholic tendencies of their "better halves" - that he decided to repeat the venture again this year. Indeed, Stadlbauer has even patented the name "Maennerhort." And with big-name sponsors such as the German luxury sports car maker Porsche, Playboy magazine and Nintendo, he is planning to set up similar nurseries in Vienna, Hamburg and Munich.
In Germany, where men have a reputation of being particularly averse to shopping, the nurseries might even operate all year round, the entrepreneur suggested.(AFP)
薩爾斯堡的女性又可以在耶誕假期盡情購物，將掃興的老公和男友拋在一旁了。
繼去年之後，今年是薩爾斯堡第二度在市中心設立「託管所」，女士們可以將伴侶留在那邊「消磨時光」，自己把握最後一刻去採買耶誕禮物，不用忍受覺得無聊又愛抱怨的另一半。
男士們就待在赫伯特:凡:卡拉揚中央廣場的一個白色大帳棚中，他們可以在那裡玩電腦遊戲、翻閱《花花公子》等報章雜誌，或是在酒吧和其他的「血拼鰥夫」喝上一杯。
十二月十三日至二十三日下午四點到晚上十點間，女士可以免費將伴侶「交寄」在帳棚入口處，她們會領到一張號碼牌，以便回來時領回配偶。
薩爾斯堡的玩具製造商安德列斯．史泰德包爾去年想到這個「托男所」的點子，結果大獲好評─將近一千五百位男士在那裡找到了「清靜」，免受他們另一半的購物癖所苦。有鑒於此，他今年決定再如法炮製。史泰德包爾甚至為「Maennerhort」這個名稱申請專利，有了德國頂級跑車製造商「保時捷」、《花花公子》雜誌和任天堂等知名企業的贊助，他還計畫要將類似的託管中心拓展到維也納、德國的漢堡和慕尼黑。
德國男性向來以極度厭惡逛街購物聞名，史泰德包爾甚至建議，也許可在德國設立常態性託管所。（法新社／翻譯：袁星塵）
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