People Are Interesting

I remember my grade 12 English teacher observing that I liked to people watch.  It's true... I think I could probably occupy myself just about anywhere as long as there was a steady supply of people to spy on.

So, I've been toying with the idea of having one day a week in my blog dedicated to the interesting people I see on my travels.  I run across so many weird and wacky humans while I'm out there doing my thing, and I think it will be kind of cool to document what I've seen so I don't forget!

So, without further ado, here is my list for this week of the interesting and giggle-inducing people I've stumbled across:

1.  I saw a young woman walking across a parking lot the other day who was just plastered in make up... tonnes of foundation, glaringly silvery eyeshadow, eyebrows that had been tweezed like crazy and then drawn back on with some sort of intensely black marker, hair completely sculpted, super dark lip liner and super light lipstick.  The part that made me giggle was that I looked behind her and saw that she was walking out of our local Beauty Supply Warehouse.  I just love stuff like that!

2.  A very nice older woman at the grocery store helped me navigate my stroller through a narrow aisle.  When I looked up to say thank you, I saw that she had a pierced lip with a hoop ring and a cross dangling from it.  I have never seen anything like that before!  It was so weird... especially considering this woman had to be at least 70 years old.  There has got to be a story there.

3.  Again, someone helping me with my stroller.  A man who was probably 50 years old, perfectly dressed in a tailored business suit, trenchcoat, shiny shoes, and a snazzy briefcase helped to make sure my poor baby didn't get squashed by the elevator doors.  When I looked up to thank him, I saw that he was wearing the most bizarre hat!  It was a "poor boy" style cap that had a Minute Maid logo on it and it was soooo tattered and thread bare.  I could just tell that this was his go-to hat and he wore it every day.  What a contrast to the rest of him!

4.  Parking lot hippies!  This made my day.  I was parking at the lot near my doctor's office and when I pulled up to the ticket dispensing machine, this couple in a VW van who literally had John Lennon glasses and headbands called out to me, waving a parking ticket in the air.  They told me that they had been waiting for someone to come and park because their ticket didn't expire until 6pm and they wanted to do someone a favour by passing it along.  I was, of course, completely happy about this turn of events, and thanked them profusely.  As they drove away, the woman shouted out the window, "Pay it forward, my friend... pay it forward!".  The neat part was that when we went to leave after seeing the doctor, my daughter said, "Mommy, we need to give our ticket to the next person!"  And, so we did!  We made their day, too!

So, what I've learned this week is that strange people are generally polite if you go by my sample group.  I've also learned that I spend a lot of time looking down.  Every time I look up, there is a dramatic reveal of something!  I think I will make a concerted effort to look up while I'm wandering about from now on.  :-)

I think that's about it for this week.  This big world is just full of characters, though, so we'll see what next week turns up!