All things come to a beginning

Friday, July 06, 2007

It's in your eyes


I've been busing it up to (and back from) work for a little while now, and have been indulging in people watching. I think the most noticeable quality on Belgian buses is a general skittishness. Both those passengers who get on and walk down the aisle as those already sitting look slightly frightened, a bit nervous or, at best, completely vacant. Sitting down next to someone when there are two empty seats is not done. If the bus is packed and you have no choice, fine, but then you're expected to move as soon as the crowd thins out. Forget L.A., that movie "Crash" about how people fear physical contact - especially cross gender & cross race - could just as well have played out right here. No one speaks up, but people on cell phones yell their lungs out. No one looks up, but everyone watches everything. Using air, space and headphones all the passengers isolate themselves and try to navigate around each other as disattached as possible. God forbid two bubbles would collide - and pop.

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