女士聖誕忙購物 老公可送“託管所”

Women in Salzburg will this year again be able to pursue their shopping with abandon over the Christmas period, free from sourpuss boyfriends and husbands.

Women in Salzburg will this year 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 'creche' will be set up in the town centre 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 whingeing spouse.

In a large white tent set up on Salzburg'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".

Between December 13-23, women can "surrender" their partners at the tent's entrance free of charge between 4:00 pm-10:00 pm.

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 creche" last year.

It proved such a success -- around 1,500 men found refuge there from the shopaholic tendencies of their 'better half' -- 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 creches in Vienna, Hamburg and Munich.

In Germany, where men have a reputation of being particularly averse to shopping, the creches might even operate all year round, the entrepreneur suggested.

今年聖誕節期間，（奧地利）薩爾茨堡的女人們又可以擺脫身邊不耐煩的丈夫或男友的干擾，盡情地“血拼”一把了。

今年，“男士託管所”將再次出現在薩爾茨堡的市中心，逛商場的女士們可以將老公或男友在此“寄存”幾個小時，然後自由自在地大肆採購一番。

薩爾茨堡市中心的赫爾伯特-範-卡拉揚廣場將搭建一個白色的大帳篷，男人們可以在這打打遊戲、翻翻報紙或看《花花公子》之類的雜誌、或與同病相憐的“購物鰥夫”們喝上一杯。

“男士託管所”將從本月13日至23日的下午4點到晚上10點免費開放。

女士們購物回來後，得憑託管所的號碼小票領走老公。

去年，薩爾茨堡的玩具製造商安德魯斯•斯塔德爾鮑爾提議開設“男士託管所”（德語：Maennerhort）。

由於託管所在去年聖誕期間取得了不錯的效果，因此安德魯斯決定今年繼續開設這個託管所。去年，“男士託管所”共“收留”了約1500個男士，讓他們擺脫了“購物狂”老婆的折磨。

斯塔德爾鮑爾已將“Maennerhort（男士託管所）”申請了專利。在德國豪華跑車“保時捷”、《花花公子》雜誌和“任天堂”遊戲機等知名公司的贊助下，安德魯斯打算向維也納、漢堡和慕尼黑拓展業務。

德國男人向來以怕逛商場而著稱，斯塔德爾鮑爾說，那裏的“男士託管所”以後可能會全年開放。

with abandon:freedom from worry or inhibitions （放任；縱情）

co-suffering:同病相憐的