tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post774482607435219251..comments2024-03-18T10:29:46.055+00:00Comments on Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff: Time of No ReplyKen Armstronghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-71236385128829609172019-07-19T02:39:08.966+01:002019-07-19T02:39:08.966+01:00Can you imagine the amount of willpower it’d take ...Can you imagine the amount of willpower it’d take NOT to say hello, nod or simply smile at someone who made the effort to greet you on the street? I mean, it’s a reflex reaction. Or maybe it would take no willpower at all if you were of a certain mind or suffering from autonomic reflex dysfunction. Only an insane person does “the same thing over and over expecting different results”—so supposedly said Einstein (although it looks like he probably read it in a Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet)—and yet, having years and years of experience with computers, I know how wrong he, or whoever first said it, was. <br /><br />There’s nothing worse than not getting it. My current obsession is the woman who lives in 5F. Because of the way I sleep I’m often up most of the night and about a week ago I looked out of my kitchen window and saw someone sitting with their back to the window gesturing wildly. I was captivated for a whole five minutes until I realised she wasn’t going to go all <i>Rear Window</i> on me. The next night I peeked out again and there she was. And the night after that. And the night after that. Always sitting with her back to the window. People are weird. I mean I’m weird for watching her; I admit it. It’s not the being up all night—I get that (it’s half two in the morning right now)—but spending hours and hours sitting in a window… Who does that?Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496460488742488789.post-33885696375206918132019-07-15T08:15:39.064+01:002019-07-15T08:15:39.064+01:00I too live in a 'hello' place. I also get ...I too live in a 'hello' place. I also get rebuffed by a few. Admittedly, as we live in a coastal(ish) place there are tourists who pass through, strangers, that may never cross my path again but any non-compliant greeters among them don't bother me as much. It's the ones on the school run that bug me.<br /><br />I gave to add, since we moved here, I've felt a bit of an outsider anyway and of the few who didn't respond to my initial hello, I tend to look down at my son and engage with him as I pass them, or feign a harried, in-a-rush expression.<br /><br />As a rule, I'm not the most social person, but I will always say hello and happily engage in a little small talk. Having the dog to walk pushes me into these exchanges more too. Yogi has absolutely no qualms and will leap and wag his tail at any passing lifeform. It shames me to say that I probably know the names of more dogs in the village than people's.Marc Patersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16124869545439738846noreply@blogger.com