Friday, April 30, 2010

No coffee for you


Must be a tea drinker
Toronto, ON, December 2009


I deliberately avoid congested downtown streets for a number of reasons: Namely, I don't live or work near one, I get hives when I'm surrounded by too many people (yes, I'm antisocial that way) and the noise and icky air tend to darken my mood. But every once in a while, the regular demands of life dictate a trip to the very epicenter of urbanity, and when I do, I figure a camera is a worthwhile thing to have in my hand.

As often happens when I'm out of my natural element, I bump into moments worth recording. I almost stopped myself from grabbing this one because, as a general rule, I don't shoot strangers. I don't want to worry about potentially ticking them off, or worse, having them chase me down the street because I caught them doing something they really shouldn't have been doing. People are messy. Animals and inanimate objects are so much easier.

Still, this little moment of drama struck me as too rich to pass up. I felt kinda sorry for the poor guy trying to make a living delivering coffee supplies to nearby businesses. I also felt kinda sorry for this officer whose daily responsibility encompasses delivering one slip of misery after another to complete strangers.

I wonder if the subject of my photo unwound with a cup of java when he got off shift.

Your turn: I haven't done a Caption This in a while (hmm...) but I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for this pic.

One more thing: I wrote this while sitting on the large rock under the maple tree on my front lawn. It's 9:21 p.m., and as the last of the day's light ebbs out of the now-darkened sky, I swear every last neighbor who's walked or driven past while I've been tapping away in the glow of my netbook thinks I'm certifiably insane. I guess my being-different gene remains active.

9 comments:

Cloudia said...

" People are messy. Animals and inanimate objects are so much easier."

LOL

From atop my big rock of difference to yours:


Aloha from Hawaii


Comfort Spiral

@singleinyyc said...

Hello! Netchick sent me! :D

I am horrible at captions. However, I wonder if life would have been a wee bit happier if they had left behind a hot cup of joe. Hmmm...

Have a fabulous weekend!

Andrey Dorokhov said...

Yes, people interact in different ways ))

theMuddledMarketPlace said...

sitting on large rocks
under trees
in our front gardens
should be obligatory

Anonymous said...

Can I have a cup of coffee while I ponder this? ;)

I think your post title fits the picture very well.

Pamela said...

COPpuccino.

Pamela said...

Coffee Lawday

momemts in time said...

Carmi... It reminds me of the time I was doing some surveillance and my colleague read out the car registration numbers from the target forecourt using the radio alphabet... except instead of proper car number plates, advertising plates had been fixed on the front row of vehicles and he duly recorded without realising: 'See 1, Try 1, Buy 1, 2Day', a later trip obtainined the real numbers from the back of the cars.

So your warden, having a temporary mental block has just recorded Extra Large Late, 2 sugars and a cinamon muffin ...

Mojo said...

I avoid shooting strangers in most cases for all of your reasons and a few of my own. People are indeed, messy, complicated beasts and best shot through a long lens in bad light. Besides, as Ansel Adams once said "There are always two people [in every photograph]: The photographer and the viewer." I could be wrong -- I haven't seen every piece of his work -- but none of what I've seen has ever featured a person actually in the frame.