I have always found solace in the crowds of a busy street. Because it is there that you can be yourself, unpretentious, aloof, unresponsive...
you can read a newspaper while sipping a cup of tea...watch the pigeons defecate on city statues...or more enjoyable to me, watch all of the people; the expressions (or lack of) on their faces...moving about their day, some quickly...others just meandering about as though waiting for the next show to start.
There is solitude of sorts here that one can't find in the country. A wonderful sense of obscurity that is comforting, in fact, too comforting at times.
The gentleman drops his cigarettes on the sidewalk...ignored by the masses as they quickly skirt and maneuver around him, as though he were a lamp post...he picks them up one by one, brushing off the dirt and tucked away in his jacket pocket...then quickly carrying on as if nothing happened.
Yes...there is a strange and certain loneliness to these streets.
POSTED BY GREGORY SEXTON