I took myself out a couple weeks back for no particular reason. Ok fine. I admit to having a severe case of cabin fever tinged with a touch of boredom - it just so happens that there is a cure for that.
It's called Cheesecake. Short of Cheesecake, Custard Tarts do just fine and occasionally I'll even settle for ice cream. It's winter here now so ice cream was not on my menu mentally. There's nothing worse than getting cold from the inside out. My body temperature is always running on the colder side. When other people are wearing shorts, I'm still layered up with tights under jeans, two tops and a pullover. I have no idea why, but I think I inherited it from my mum.
Anyone who has ever had contact with my toes can testify to this as they have been known to resemble iciles more than toes temperature wise.
I'm getting way sidetracked here and going off topic.
This particular day was blisteringly cold, the wind was challenging everyone in the parking lot, especially those with long hair and it had been raining too. The perfect day for coffee.
As I sat down at the little coffee shop, I had a look around. There were about five tables seated, only one of which only had one person at the table. Everyone was on a device of some sort except for the two kids at the table diagonally across from me. They were being kids. Teasing each other and running around like maniacs.
At another table there was a man and a woman seated across from each other at a tiny table with their laptops in front of them and they were focused and working furiously on something. The woman's face said "Leave me the fuck alone, I'm heavily annoyed at Jared". I don't know who Jared is or what he did, but I'd hate to have been him that day. It seemed they had been there a while; their laptops were plugged into the only electrical charging port that I could see in the whole establishment.
I made a note of that as I have a funny feeling that I'll end up sitting there in the next few days writing on Hive.
The best part of this whole experience was that I just sat there. I didn't have my phone out, I looked around and simply watched the world go by for a while. I don't get to do this as much as I used to. Yes, I love being in nature, but not when the weather is bitter and cold.
When I do get the opportunity, I use it to heighten my senses and narrow my focus on little details.
Many years ago when I started working, everyone wore a suit and tie. It was just standard practice. These days, I don't see it much at all. Even the two people sitting there working furiously were more casual than smart-casual. The majority of people were wearing jeans and jumpers or faux-fur lined puffer jackets (the ladies) which seem to be fashionable at the moment. All the colours were natural tones. Browns, black, deep red, white, and one blue blouse. No bold prints that stood out either. The winter wardrobes of last year perhaps? Who knows.
Some people had put their phones away when their drinks arrived and there were some murmurs and a bit of laughter here and there, but everything seemed rather muted (except for the kids of course who were busy indulging in some ridiculous chocolate sauce-smothered milkshakes, well on their way to a sugar rush and later...crash, no doubt). With a sigh, I dug into my cheesecake.
It took me forever to eat it. It was dense and quite dry, but with a lovely rich flavour. I couldn't finish it, I ended up taking half of it home. The coffee was nice but it wasn't the best I've had, it hit the spot though and soon enough my cabin fever had melted away and my mind had drifted off, filled with questions about these strangers sitting all around me.
I wondered where they came from, what they did for a living, what they did for fun, what kind of things made them laugh. I wondered what the kids would be when they grow up, how tall they would get. Would they remember this little outing to the little coffee shop in two years? I wanted to know if anyone else in the place had icicle toes like me in winter. The questions kept flooding in, but there was no way of answering any of them, so they just washed over me and I let them go again, lost to the moment of inquiry and observation.
Do people even do this anymore these days? When you go somewhere, do you notice the people around you? Do you look them in the eye when you greet them and wonder how their day has really been? Do you notice the world around you that you are a part of? Do you ever ponder if the woman sitting in the coffee shop is asking herself questions about you that she'll never get answers to?