I admit it – I’m nosy

By nosy, I don’t mean that I interfere with people. I mind my own business. It’s just that I’m a very observant type
who enjoys watching people. I think this is why I can enjoy urban life so much.

I am not a newspaper reader. I never buy one and I rarely even pick up one that has been discarded on the bus or in a coffee shop. But a newspaper in someone else’s hands is somehow fascinating. As is a magazine. Or book. On the bus, I will read the newspaper over the shoulder of the person sitting in front of me – even if it’s open in the Sports section. I’m good at reading upside down as well – if someone has a newspaper open flat on a table. I find myself reading books of people seated next to me, even on a Kindle. I can’t do it for very long though, because I get motion sickness when I read on the bus!

One Sunday, I was riding downtown on the bus, and was sitting in an elevated seat with a clear view of the screen of the cell-phone of the person in the seat ahead. He was exchanging messages with someone regarding a party later that afternoon. I tried not to read it. But I couldn’t help it. It wasn’t even interesting. He was worried about finding time to do his laundry before going out of town the next day. Hardly sensational.

Some neighbors of mine never close the blinds of their kitchen. I watch them make dinner and try to figure out what they’re having. In coffee shops, I find myself noticing what is showing on laptop screens. (When I take my netbook to a coffee shop, I make sure to seat myself so that no one can see what I’m looking at!)

Waiting in line at the grocery store, I see what people have in their carts. (And the contents are indeed a good predictor as to whether the person is overweight.)

At my last job, I often had to carry customer purchases out to the car. And I couldn’t help but notice what they had in the car or trunk. And working at the counter, I couldn’t help but notice the state of the customer’s purse or wallet. I don’t think I should ever work at a drug store!! I have a good memory for faces as well!

I feel guilty that I do this even though I rarely pass judgement based on my observations. And I make these observations in such short glimpses of time, that I don’t think anyone really notices that I’m noticing! I wonder if there is a occupation for which my habit would be a great asset:)

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Young investigators

I walked a good chunk of my way home this afternoon. So rather than enjoy a summer evening walking yet more, I made an iced chai latte and went over to the small public beach across the street to listen to a podcast and enjoy the view. It is marvelous living near a beach.

I recently found The New Yorker Fiction podcast. I’ve got to admit that for someone who has a doctoral degree, I’m a rather uncultured person. I’d even go so far as to call myself a philistine. So I imagine I must often seem very unsophisticated in my newly-discovered enthusiasm for certain things:) Short stories make excellent podcasts, but The New Yorker takes it to the next higher level. Authors who have written for the magazine select and read a story from the archives. Some of the selections are obscure and were published decades ago. The reading of the story is followed by some discussion – which has given me a much greater appreciation of the craft of writing. I especially enjoy this podcast over at the beach, where the sounds of waves lapping on the shingle make an interesting backdrop for an intense story.

This evening, after I was done with The New Yorker, I started an episode of A History Of The World In A Hundred Objects – but I didn’t get very far – because something transpiring nearby was more interesting.

Two young girls, about nine or ten years in age, were on the beach. They had been there a while, climbing around on the drift logs and looking at rocks and shells and so on. As they came upon the part of the beach where I sat, something caught their attention -a rather large painting along one of the larger logs. It’s been there a little while, and it looks like it’s probably done in acrylic. The girls were so excited by the picture and examined it very closely.

The picture has a name along with it – Alex. The girls were wondering if that was a girl’s name or a boy’s name. And was it the name of the author – or the person the picture was painted for? They concluded that the artist must be a girl and that she had done the picture for someone else to see. But why was no last name given? And why paint the picture here on this beach?

By now I was more into their discussion than my podcast – and so I turned off my iPhone and put it away.

I enjoyed their discussion of this random piece of art. I wanted to add something of my own – that sometimes you dedicate something you’ve done to someone who means a lot to you – but you’re not sure how they’ll feel about that so you try to keep it casual by just using the first name – but all along you hope that if he sees it, he recognizes the work as yours, and that he hopes that he is indeed the one you dedicated it too. But I said nothing.

“She must live around here,” one of them said as they walked away.

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Alki evening

I don’t live right at Alki – rather around a mile or so south. But when asked where in West Seattle I live, I say Alki because everyone knows where it is – especially on nice summer evenings.

I enjoy a walk to Alki any time of the year, and in just about any weather. I had a happy routine last winter. After getting home from work and feeding the cat, I would grab my netbook and go over to Alki for a latte and some Google Earth therapy. I saw some really dark and stormy walks!

But now that summer has finally put in appearance, I’m enjoying strolling through the neighborhood, taking it all in. Right where I live there are no major attractions, so it’s mainly locals out and about – walking dogs, exercising etc.
And on really nice evenings, there are plenty of folks just chillin’ – hanging out on porches, decks, stoops, or in yards -usually with brews or wine. Lots of baggy shorts, ratty tank tops, bare feet and the occasional straw hat.

Closer to the beach is where the fun is. There are many eateries, most of them fairly modest of price, unambitious of cuisine, and somewhat low on “cool”.
However, there are a few establishments that fall into the “see and be seen” category. You certainly see a lot of blonde hair extensions, dark tans, big sunglasses, tight jeans and high heels. And that’s just the guys!!

There’s always a lot of posturing and posing – and it starts with getting out of the car, once they finally find a parking spot. No matter how close they park to the target restaurant, they always seem a bit unsure of which way to go. And once walking, the girls often look wobbly on their heels – as though they are unaccustomed to wearing them. Once done with dinner, they have to stand outside on the sidewalk for at least 10 minutes, and who knows how many phone calls and text messages before they know where they are going next.

Early in summer, they may find themselves hopelessly underdressed as they battle a very chilly breeze coming off Elliot Bay that has all the locals still bundled in hooded sweatshirts. At any time, they always seem to look as though they put in far too much effort simply for dinner at Alki! I wonder who it is they hope to impress.

I wouldn’t say that the beautiful people of Seattle necessarily flock to Alki. But it may be that those who aspire to it come to Alki to practice:)

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People Watch 5/1

With all the coffee shops to choose from at Alaska Junction in West Seattle, you might wonder why I often go to the QFC grocery store. It’s that people-watching thing again. It’s always better at the grocery store:)

Today, one person in particular got my attention – because I sort of know her, although she clearly does not remember me. I see her around here quite often. She also favors grocery stores for coffee. I always want to just ask her if she still has the Norwegian Forest cat, and remark that the Norwegian children must be quite grown up now – but I am afraid It may terrify her that a total stranger knows something about her.

Years ago, I worked in a toy store. One day I was chatting with a customer about my new kitten. How that conversation got started I do not recall -but retail work has a way of spawning all kinds of conversations that have nothing to do with the job. I noticed another lady who looked like she needed real assistance as opposed to a chat, and excused myself to help her.

She needed help finding gifts for the children of a family she knows in Norway. She was very nervous about this, as though Norwegian children are a breed apart from the American article. I showed her a few things, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, she asked if my kitten sat in my lap (she must have overhead my conversation.) I said yes. She then told me how lucky I was, because her Norwegian Forest cat never sat in her lap. She really seemed sad as she said it. Norwegian children. Norwegian cat. Interesting.

She came back to the store every once in a while, always to buy toys for the Norwegian children. Each time, I asked after her Norwegian Forest cat. Each time she was astounded I knew she had one.

I left the toy store to work in a pet food store. Eventually I encountered this lady there also, when she came in to buy cat food. Again I asked about the Norwegian Forest cat. Again she was astounded. I reminded her of the toy store where I used to work. She was amazed I remembered her.

I was amused to see her today, and resisted the urge to talk to her. And she is not the only person I remember little details about. I was in retail work for five years, and I am always seeing people who I know little things about. And most of them do not seem to know me at all – which is probably a good thing:)

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People Watch 4/25

Something I have never seen before: a Jehovah Witness at an intersection holding up copies of Awake! I wonder if Real Change vendors will reciprocate by going around knocking on doors:)

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I have mentioned before that grocery-store coffee shops are the best places to watch people. I was just at Metropolitan Market, and this place never disappoints! On Sunday, I generally wait until after noon to go for coffee – let the crowd thin out a bit. However, you then find yourself running into the lunch crowd.

This is a very popular place for lunch, despite being rather expensive. The coffee shop seating area is often full. Outside is a covered patio with heat lamps. As long as the wind is not blowing directly into that space, it can be surprisingly comfortable, even in the middle of winter. You can usually find a seat out here, although you may suddenly find yourself surrounded by rather exuberant longshoremen:)

Over the years, the lunch crowd has grown in size, prompting Metropolitan Market to put out ever more tables and chairs wherever possible. Outside the main entrance is a flower stall and a “garden” department centered on a covered area. In spring and summer, this area displays planters, hanging baskets, plants and potting soil. In the fall, there are pumpkins. During the Holidays, you find pointsettas and wreaths and so on.

The “garden” area has been accumulating tables and chairs over the last couple of years, and now provides overflow seating during busy periods. It is actually a rather lovely place to sit when not too windy, especially in summer when you are surrounded by plants and flowers.

Today I managed to get a table in the coffee shop, where I enjoyed a latte and muffin and listened to a podcast. But then the lunch crowd started to show up – people carrying trays of soup and sushi and salads and sandwiches – and looking around forlornly for a place to sit. As I was done with my muffin, I decided that I did not need to take up a table, so I vacated my spot and went outside to finish my coffee. The patio was a little busy so I went down to the garden area, which was empty.

I picked a table and resumed listening to my podcast, last Wednesday’s election-special broadcast of The Now Show. (There is a general election in the UK on May 7.) Very shortly, I was joined by a rather fussy middle-aged lady. She proceeded to rearrange the furniture in the corner where I was sitting. She moved several chairs to another table and then moved the table she wished to sit at. Then she sat down – only to get up a couple of minutes later, move another chair, and drag her table a few feet further. I exchanged glances with an elderly gent who seems to live in the Metropolitan Market coffee shop. (No matter the time of day, he is there. He must take all his meals there.) He had just taken a seat near us and was rather amused by this lady’s actions. Meanwhile, I took a moment to take stock of his knit hat – which had a sizeable hole in it right on top – and it looked as though it were intentional! I was wondering what purpose it might serve when the lady got my attention again. She had finally got settled and begun to enjoy her coffee and muffin. Then I realized what the furniture arranging was about. That corner had a tiny little area that was not shaded, and she had moved her table so that she might sit in the sun. I wondered why she had not gone to sit in the sun on the south side of the store and save herself the trouble. But then she took some insurance papers out of her bag and proceeded to fill them out…….. after which it all made sense to me:)

The podcast I was enjoying was extremely funny, and I felt OK about laughing out loud. I thought I might as well give her something to wonder about in return:)

Hardly an exciting story, I know. But it’s little stuff like this that keeps me entertained on the most uneventful of days. It’s probably why I’m never bored.

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Watching life

Over the last few months, I have been so busy enjoying my iPod Touch and then the iPhone, that a once-favorite pastime of mine has been overlooked to a certain extent. I realized this when I was dowtown on Friday after work, and decided to spend the weekend a little less “wired”.

I had quite a few podcasts I had not heard, as well as an audio version of The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, so my coffee shop time was spent passively listening, and enjoying watching the world go by, as opposed to taking voyages of the mind via Google Earth.

Mark Twain is probably my favorite author, and the writer I would have most wished to emulate – although my own style is perhaps more Hemmingway-esque. I am a scientist by training, with a few publications to my credit, and have been conditioned to write in a short, concise manner. I have only published one piece of fiction, and I struggled to make the 7500 word minimum the publisher required!!

I have been attempting to listen to chapters of Tom Sawyer at bedtime, only to fall asleep, so today I decided to listen while taking a long walk on this lovely Sunday morning. Appropriately, I was listening to the chapter where Tom is being kept amused in church by (in turn) a fly, a beetle, a poodle, and an ant. I was wondering if churches at that time were routinely infested with insects, when I was suddenly distracted by a sight that might have come right from the pages of a Mark Twain story. Out from the small garden of a townhouse, a squirrel ran in front of me hauling a rather large breakfast pancake. I’m not sure if the pancake was offered or stolen, but it looked as though it had only just left the griddle. The squirrel was clearly excited by this acquisition and sat down at the side of the road to devour it. I’m kicking myself that I did not take a picture as I will probably never see the likes again. Now, if Mr. Clemens were writing this, he would have spun out a five-page yarn about this squirrel and how he ended up going back to the house to ask for maple syrup!

Along the waterfront of West Seattle, I realized I was the only person headed away from Alki Beach, fighting quite a surge of people going in the other direction – quite the story of my life! I imagine the Alki coffee shops had rather long lines this morning. It was comfortably cool along the waterfront, but there were plenty of people overly eager to get into summer clothes – shorts, tanks, flip-flops, jog bras, even a swimsuit! It might have been sunny, but it wasn’t THAT warm.

Grocery store coffee shops are absolutely the best place to people-watch. Going to the store is such an everyday experience that people are themselves and un-selfconscious. No one is trying to make an impression, and most people are too preoccupied with getting the task done to be aware of being watched. It is also usually easier to find a seat.

When weather permits, I enjoy finding a perch in a public place. A favorite spot of mine is a low wall on the sidewalk near the Husky Deli in West Seattle where I enjoy watching people coming out of the Deli with ice cream. People are always happy when they have ice cream.

Today, I went to a grocery store for a latte. The latte was perfect, and I found a great place to sit where I could listen to more of Tom Sawyer and watch people going into the store. Unfortunately, the piped music was too distracting and I had to find a different spot. I went to the other side of the store, where there are also seats. No music here – but a barking dog provided the distraction. So I had to move on again. I ended up on a bench outside a laundromat on the next block. It was a great spot! But it was in the shade, and I got a little chilly. So I moved on to a bench in the sun outside a bank. Nice for a little bit…until I got too warm! I finally found a good compromise outside the drug store. The bench I sat on was in the shade, but the concrete in front of it was in sunshine, and gave off enough warmth to keep me comfortable while I enjoyed my latte and Tom Sawyer. And there was plenty to watch.

I picked a nice weekend for people-watching. Everywhere I went, the atmosphere was relaxed and happy. I saw no one being angry or even impatient. No children were throwing tantrums and no adults were being childish. It was wonderful. And I didn’t spend the entire weekend at the beach in perfect weather. Yesterday, I rode busy buses, did some serious shopping and contended with some very heavy rain. Yet people were happy for some reason – as though everything in the world was just fine, instead of….

Perhaps I was in a parallel universe!

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