THE ROAD UNPAVED

On the way back from my early morning pipe I saw the sour woman. She still lives in this neighborhood. Before they changed the bus schedules I used to see her at the stop once a week. I had been wondering if she were still around, but over the past few days I've seen her twice. Mid-twenties or so, presentable and trim, with a permanent sour and distant expression on her face. Years.

One wonders if she'll ever link up with someone. It is doubtful. One realizes it's none of one's damned business. What kind of man or woman would even bother striking up a conversation with her? One cannot imagine her having a social life.

Life probably isn't working out as she planned.
Sad that nobody worships the ground.
It's just not right, is it?

My life plans have been in a near-permanent state of slow flux since my early teens. It's better that way. By the time they didn't work out as planned I had already started different plans. So my disappointment has never been too keen. The best analogy I can think of right now is that by the time I realized I had not made much progress in one narrow aspect of a field I had already discovered that there were sidetracks and related sub headings the pursuit of which would expand understanding of the first, inevitably lead to the next, and add perspective to something else.

On work days it's now still dark when I leave the house, and my first cup of coffee and pipeful around the block tend to be in the pitch black. Well, as pitch as an urban environment can be. Meaning sort of half lit outside. Not well enough to read a book by, because clearly city fathers do not want the people on the street at that hour to start thinking. It might cause problems. Given the type of people who are on the street at that hour.

Some of them have dogs. Some of them have sticks and pipes.
And some of them just have a bad attitude.


Crows and other corvids, it has been discovered, have very good memories for people who are not threatening, radiate well-being, are kind, and might feed them. You want to stay on the good side of crows. They can harbour grudges for many years. That's one good reason to not always have a grumpiness about yourself. I'm not saying "smile", because I hate it when people tell me to do so. But honestly, it couldn't do any harm.



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