tales from an ordinary world
2002-06-17b
It's a Monday tram so everybody's locked in their own worlds, except for the two Young MenTM playfully jostling each other on the seat opposite me. Somebody plays with her phone, presumably trying to SMS someone. People hurry off, but more hop on to replace them, swarming out of the railway station like insects, leather shoes and jackets their gleaming carapaces in a sodium-yellow night. One sits near me and just stares off out the window behind me, holding his wallet, glasses and keys in one hand. I try not to look too conspicuous. Another sits down precisely, a few seats up, peering disdainfully down my end of the tram. Soon, but not soon enough, it's time to make my exit. Book in hand, canvas bag over shoulder. I check my stuff. I'm off this thing, at last. Waiting for the doors to open, I find myself staring at a man's bald head - hair either side, but a shiny little world atop it. He's wearing dark blue trousers, a t-shirt, and a blue Levi's denim shirt. Some sort of jacket too, I think. I wonder what he's going home to ?
It's dark already, and the footpath's under my feet again, just for a short while. Venus hangs low in the sky. A small aircraft flashes its lights on the way past. The stars are out. I'm nearly home.
I've wasted this night, fiddling with emulators of old computers I once knew and loved. I could've been doing something...useful. Or something else, anyway.
