I believe we all do it: watch other people. We can do it sitting in a cafe at the side of the street, while riding on the bus, or the train, or subway. You can even do it while walking down a street.
I do it all the time, with a running commentary as well.
That lady, who almost maneuvers her bike in front of a bus, to which I grumble: Really?! I mean, really? Suicidal much today, are we?
I’m neither awfully subtle nor do I try to keep my voice low. Nevertheless nobody seems to hear me. Nobody is paying attention.
Then there is the guy, who is dazedly walking around a corner, mouth hanging open. I narrowly avoid his running into me. And all I can think is: close your mouth, it makes you look stupid!
It’s true. I’ve read that somewhere quite some time ago. How people look stupid when they let their mouth hang open. I’ve been paying more attention to that particular expression and it’s true, it really doesn’t make you look smart.
Helpful as I am, I keep telling people to close their mouth, but do they ever listen? You guessed it right, they don’t.
My ever active mind comments on everything I see around me when I am walking down the street. I look at people, I see them. I walk around them, avoid them, follow them, make sure they don’t step on me, or run into me. I work in London, for goodness’ sake, it’s impossible to avoid people, no matter how much you wish you could.
And somehow they turn into this mindless mass that does not pay attention. They’re slowing down right in front of you, going right when it says to keep left, they don’t look at anything, don’t seem to have any self-awareness and generally behave as if they were all alone. It’s mind boggling!
I’ve turned evasive maneuvers into an art form. It’s really hard for anyone to run into me and I usually avoid running into anybody myself even if they are hell bend on their collision course.
I can definitively say that this is quite a unique phenomenon that only seems to occur in large cities. The more people there are, the fewer people pay any attention to their surroundings.
Like tardiness it’s one of the things that annoy me more than anything else. This is probably because I do not understand how anyone can possibly move around like that and ever get anywhere. It’s a mystery and I am not sure, I even want to solve it.
Paying attention is one way of being considerate, that’s for sure, but it’s also so very entertaining. I can only recommend it.
2clouds 