January ending, a list: It doesn’t matter how much the sun comes through the windows laundry refuses to truly dry and this leads to questioning all my decisions up to this point in time—if I’m envious of one thing it is climates in which laundry will reliably dry to an easy crisp
"It is true that I mainly frequent the local bookstore to simply eavesdrop as people will say all sorts once they’ve forgotten you’re in the back browsing the second-hand shelves"
And with that, you've reminded me of one of the grestest joys of a bookshop, which I'd completely forgotten about. Thank you. I've recently been banging on in various bits of writing about how great coffee shops are for benign eavesdropping, which they are, but - the way bookshops tamp the sound down like a library but, as you say, let people's guard down to start murmuring the most fascinating & outrageously candid things at each other.....ahhh.
So now I'm wondering more about this. Where else? If this was turned into a BuzzFeed listicle (gnnnnn at the idea), where would be the 10 best public places to harmlessly listen in on other people's conversations in that way that fills you with empathic curiosity?
I am glad about this. What you say about coffee shops also true, but harder sometimes to pick out a very good thread—people tend to holler and exaggerate. The bookshop eavesdropping is somehow more thrilling and more inconspicuous when one looks like nothing more than a person slowly turning a few pages with vague interest. And where does a person a coffee shop look when desiring to eavesdrop? I feel that staring into space is an increasingly less acceptable thing to do these days. Certainly launderettes would be on the list.
"It is true that I mainly frequent the local bookstore to simply eavesdrop as people will say all sorts once they’ve forgotten you’re in the back browsing the second-hand shelves"
And with that, you've reminded me of one of the grestest joys of a bookshop, which I'd completely forgotten about. Thank you. I've recently been banging on in various bits of writing about how great coffee shops are for benign eavesdropping, which they are, but - the way bookshops tamp the sound down like a library but, as you say, let people's guard down to start murmuring the most fascinating & outrageously candid things at each other.....ahhh.
So now I'm wondering more about this. Where else? If this was turned into a BuzzFeed listicle (gnnnnn at the idea), where would be the 10 best public places to harmlessly listen in on other people's conversations in that way that fills you with empathic curiosity?
Hmmmm.
I am glad about this. What you say about coffee shops also true, but harder sometimes to pick out a very good thread—people tend to holler and exaggerate. The bookshop eavesdropping is somehow more thrilling and more inconspicuous when one looks like nothing more than a person slowly turning a few pages with vague interest. And where does a person a coffee shop look when desiring to eavesdrop? I feel that staring into space is an increasingly less acceptable thing to do these days. Certainly launderettes would be on the list.