Today this old chap was walking towards me, so I moved out of his way so he could walk by, only he moved the same way.  We smiled sheepishly at each other...and moved the same way again.  By the time we finally walked past each other we were both laughing.  

I had never met him before in my whole life and I never will again, or if I do I won't recognise him, but that guy is my new best friend.

When I bury myself in revision there are days when I just don't speak to people, which is kind of scary.  This year I'm living in college, so I see people every mealtime.  Last year I lived out with four other girls and it was a very silent house during revision time.  I went for a walk then and met a lovely little old lady at the market and we talked about strawberries.  Strawberries.  For less than a minute.

It made my day.

I tried to tell one of my housemates this when I we were cooking dinner and she gave me a look I was rather familiar with by then, which said 'you're okay to live with, but please stop talking now'.  We all got along last year with no real arguments and a few good laughs, but we didn't really get each other.  We haven't really kept in touch even though two of them are living in college with me this year.  Talking to a random woman about strawberries was not, it was implied, something to get excited about.

But the Strawberry Lady and Laughing Man were big deals for me.

If anyone has ever seen the film Under The Tuscan Sun, there's an old chap in that who the heroine sees everyday when he walks by and she always smiles at him, but he never acknowledges her, or he frowns.  Then, finally, at the end of the film, he tips his hat to her and she looks so happy, as if she could jump up and down with the joy of it.  All because some old guy smiled.

This is how it is: we all kind of ignore each other.  How many people talk on a bus when there's no one there that they recognise?  How many people strike up a random conversation with the person behind them in the queue at the supermarket?  Or people on train station platforms?  

And how surprised do they look if you do?

It's a little depressing and a little uncomfortable ignoring people, so I smile at people I don't know.  Sometimes they smile back.

I would like to share with you that I went for a walk and an old chap laughed with me.  It made my day.