People Watching

This week I have spent a few mornings collecting for the Red Shield Appeal, outside a supermarket, in a set up just the same as this one.

All of that sitting allows for some serious people watching.
Last Saturday I noticed that nearly every woman I saw was wearing "active wear". This week, not so much.
All the take away coffees were in the same type of cup so I guess there is one place with the good coffee.
I saw one young woman in a truly beautiful outfit and I would have told her so but she wouldn't meet my eye. The outfit was a long flowing blue velvet skirt with a floral blouse and short boots.
I saw a young mum run back to the shop for a forgotten bag of shopping. I had seen her with two littlies but she didn't come back with the children and had probably left them in the car after belting them in. I recognised her panicked look.
I think that middle aged women are the only people who wear horizontal stripes and why do they? do horizontal stripes look good on anyone?

An Upside Down Boy

I'm not sure why I am telling this story except I suppose because it is exquisitely poignant and I didn't realise I would be so affected by the decline of someone I never really knew except at a distance.

When my church was restructured recently, it fell to me to take responsibility for the seniors group which meets each Wednesday and so for the last few weeks I have been settling into a role I really know nothing about.

Clyde (who I mentioned a few posts back) is a part of this group. A few weeks ago Clyde was very keen to tell a joke; apparently his doctors had been asking if he could still tell jokes and unsure of whether he actually could, Clyde came prepared with some jokes and told them with appropriate tone and timing. Clyde's joke has become a regular part of the morning and no matter what is happening, everyone stops to listen attentively.

Today we heard about the boy who thought he was built upside down because his nose ran and his feet smelled. Ba dum tsh!

I laughed and said "My dad has been telling that joke for as long as I can remember" Clyde has known my dad and played in a brass band with him for probably thirty years but he looked me straight in the eye and with all the manners and grace he has always had, said "You know, I forget a lot of things, who is your dad?"

Vegetarians, Look Away

It was Mother's Day, two days past the forcible extraction of my tooth and we were on the way home from church. Liam knows all the places so he offered to buy me Greek food from a nearby restaurant. I reminded him that I wasn't really eating normal food so he decided an HSP would be a better bet.
For a couple of years now the kids have been talking about the iconic HSP but it has passed me by.

Yes, this is it, my Halal Snack Pack: hot chips, shaved meat, cheese and garlic sauce (cheese is an extra, sauces range from chilli to barbecue to tomato) This HSP is seen in it's natural habitat, a car.

I lost my HSP virginity (and yes, HSP virginity is "a thing") on Mother's Day. Kind of appropriate, don't you think?