People who come out in the daylight

Yesterday I went for coffee with a friend and then walked back through Glenmore Park in order to take some pictures. It has always been my intention to take a series of fall photographs but year after year that got moved to the bottom of the list as I started into the routine of planning for classes, marking assignments, tracking attendance and calling parents.

I was amazed at how many people are actually out and about during the day. I feel a little like Dracula suddenly out in the sunlight and able to watch the goings on. Of course, the demographic is different. In the cafe there were a number of grey-haired folks; I'll have to append 'like me,' and a few women who were in business dress. There was one young man, probably in high school with an older woman I took to be his mother. I automatically thought, 'dental appointment.' One of the women behind the counter is the owner and I've seen her there every time I've been in. With her was a young woman who looked like she should have been in high school but then, as I get older everyone else looks younger. I swear some of the new teachers and police officers look like they are 12.

When I began my walk through the park I noticed different sorts of people. As in the cafe, there were the greying ones on bikes or on foot. One family, or what I took to be a family, was composed of one older man and three young adults. They did look old enough to be out of school. They were sitting on a bench looking out at the water and speaking in a language I didn't recognize. There were also several people with various handicaps and their caregivers walking slowly along the paths.

As I passed one of the picnic areas 10 women with baby joggers merged onto the path. One woman didn't have a jogger and I gathered that she was the instructor. I have never before been anywhwere where there were more than one or two women with baby joggers.

When Richard came home today he mentioned that there had been a fire drill, another of the things that I won't miss. At time it felt as if I was the only teacher willing (or stupid enough) to walk among the kids during winter fire drills and try to prevent them from smoking or throwing snow balls at each other. I'm glad I'll no longer feel the responsibility to do something about such behaviour when I don't see anyone else doing it.

Another oddity today was being home when the mail truck came by with a package. Usually we get the little slip in the mailbox and the next day we go to the post office to collect whatever it is. It is indeed a weird new world.