I do like a spot of people watching. I like imagining the connections between groups or couples and thinking up their back stories. Last weekend I went to the local shop and had two coffees so I could spend more time watching how Connie in her felt hat, tweed coat and sensible shoes, interacted with someone who could have been her daughter, career or neighbour, but who was the recipient of Connie’s beaming smile when she said they didn’t have to go back quite yet and could go and watch the boats on the reservoir instead.

I got very involved listening to conversation a group of cyclists were having about some forensic work one of them had done on a high profile criminal case recently, although I’m pretty sure he shouldn’t have been quite so vocal about it.  I decided he was probably compensating for being the slowest rider..

And I haven’t stopped wondering why the female cyclist who stopped for a coffee was in all the right gear: cycling tights, top, gloves, cleats, glasses, has topped it all off with what was actually a very pretty dress.

It turns out it’s an even better pasttime with Himself. He sees differently and sees additional things to me, and people watching takes on a whole new dimension. The couple who sat opposite us at the bar we went to last night, for example. I thought they were probably on their first date and would have left it there. By the time Himself and I had surreptitiously watched and discussed them, they were on their second date, but were probably not going to make if to their fifth. She would be the one who wasn’t sure about it all and he would be frustrated that he would have to start looking at profiles all over again (because they had met over the Internet we felt, for no good reason).

When we got to the station, I missed my strain by about three seconds and He discovered there wasn’t one in the right direction for 40 minutes.  So we sat slightly tucked away and watched. It turns out that there was never any need for me to worry what I looked like when I run, because at least half the people at the station last night were about to miss their trains and about half of them were even more three legged donkey-ish than I ever was.

There was the group of older teens, half of which ran for their train, the other half were clearly torn between missing it and remaining cool. They stayed cool. I imagine they were also late home, but they lost no credibility with their mates as a result.

And there was the man and lady who seemed to be holding each other up. He thought the man was drunk. I thought it was her. Within a few minutes it was clear I was right, but what wasn’t clear was whether they were a couple, or colleagues, or worse….could he be her boss? We went through the scenarios for the next morning for each option. We watched as he tried to get her to drink water and she tried to stay upright while clinging to his coat sleeve…

I’ve not been sad when my train has arrived on time before. I wonder if anyone was people watching us doing our people watching, and what they had made of us…. :o)