The woman with the Labrador

June 2, 2023. It was half past nine in the morning. I got on the bus and saw a tall blonde woman around my age with a white Labrador standing near the stroller and bicycle area. She was approached by an older guy, in his mid-forties, who looked like a biker in his leather jacket and bombarded her with questions about the dog. It was obvious that the guy was more interested in the woman than the dog and was just using the dog as an excuse to start a conversation with her. I could almost feel how much the young woman wanted to escape in that moment. Apparently, she wasn't interested in this questioning. I sat right in front of her and could observe everything. She got off at Königsworther Platz with me, while the guy stayed on the bus.

We went in different directions, and for a moment, I thought about turning around and talking to her. But the dog stopped me at that moment. "My girlfriend has a dog? No, that wouldn't be for me." But in the cafeteria, I thought differently. Maybe I shouldn't be so picky. Perhaps she was a great person who suited me. After all, that was much more important than whether she had a dog.

After the cafeteria, I had another coffee at HanoMacke and watched the students around me. I noticed that I hadn't seen a single female student who wasn't staring at her phone. Even those who were on their way to the library were looking and tapping obsessively on their phones. Many of them had headphones in or on their ears. It somehow seemed alarming to me how women had turned into zombies since my youth. Then this tall, blonde student, whom I had dreamed of and been rejected by back then – Nina – walked past me in slow motion. She was the only woman who wasn't wearing headphones, and instead of holding a phone in her hand, she had the thick red Basic Law book. "My future girlfriend should be like Nina, not a zombie," I thought.

I also observed the men. Something else caught my attention. Only a few of them had a phone in their hand. I wondered why that might be. Perhaps women were more social beings who made more effort to maintain friendships and other relationships? After this small philosophical reflection, I went to Borsum to barbecue with the family.