February 14, 2007
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These are the people in my neighborhood…
When I go running in the morning, I pass two women at the corner of Dumbarton and Crow. They are dressed in snazzy spandex-ey things and talk to each other with wild enthusiasm, like they’ve already swilled ten cups of coffee at 6.30 am. I am rumpled in sweats and gloves. One waves at me and nods. The other looks straight through me.
When I am on time for work, I see the same woman on the subway platform. Her look: trendy librarian. She is the only person I’ve ever seen who looks good in a bowl-cut.
If I am a lucky duck and get out of work at 5 pm sharp, I cross paths with a woman on my walk home from the subway. She is roughly my age (twenty-something) and wears a black hat with cat ears on it. She walks a small Jack Russell Terrier on a leash. When she passes, we nod to each other in a way that says, “I don’t know why we’re alike, stranger. But we are.”
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Who do you see daily as you go about your business?::Random Tangent::
The other day, I was commiserating with a guy about the low salaries of most first out-of-college jobs. I mentioned that when I had my first out-of-college job, I only had one pair of pants that I ironed and re-wore daily. He looked at me curiously before he burst out laughing. “Be careful with the word pants here,” he chuckled. To people in the UK, “pants” means underware. Ha!
Comments (6)
I love those dogs but they are balls of energy from day one to the end. There’s a cute story of one from Lake Erie a few years back. He must have jumped overboard from a recreational boat and was found swimming in the lake. It made the paper and it turned out that the pup had gone missing for around two days and swam that whole time. Poor fella! I remember the quote from the guy who fished him out, “He sure looked relieved.” It’s weird the people I see daily. If I don’t get out of the hood I see people who struggle to make it and give smiles assuming I am as in need as they are. Like we are in this together. If I venture out to my regular specialty shops, I see people who want to talk about little things. They smile too, but it’s more as if they are saying “Good game.” As if we are opponents in a race. Good to know the alternative meaning of pants!
I’m hoping that Bob the neighbor gets home soon and can provide his generosity on some certain neighbors’ driveways. This weather could make a person freeze his pants off, whatever the definition.Sometimes I do wonder about people I see around a lot, enough for a nod of recognition but not enough for a conversation. Probably worth saying something, just to engage some dialogue.
ryc: You have a great experience at hand no need to feel obligated to do the Xanga dance. I love reading of it here and on Loch Ness as well.Oh, those bare cupboard times are funny in a way. Well, not when you are in them, but when you remember them. I’m set for at least two weeks now. I hope!
This morning I saw both of my Next Door Lesbians leaving for work. One right after the other.
It is good that you see them. How many go about thier morning run and daily commute and not even notice?
ha hahahaha. pants. I told my friend once that I wasn’t going to be wearing pants for a while, because I had run out of clean jeans, and this british guy overheard me and looked at my skirt and said, “well love you better hope its not windy.” it cracked me up. Anywho.
I wanted to mention this woman, who I think loathes me, that I see everyday in my neighborhood. She looks very rich and she’s very old and everyday she walks this hideous little dog. Its this weird hairless thing with big ears that makes me sick. It always has some sort of ridiculous little sweater that I think is probably more expensive than everything I’m wearing. Every time we passs each other I giggle at the dog and the dog snubs me by walking as quickly and as far away from me as possible. I think the lady hates me because I laugh at her dog and I’m one of those loud americans that shouldn’t be living in such a posh neighborhood and I’m probably bringing the property values way down.