essential peoplewatching kit 2
1
4
3 ITEM
1
for time
setting goals
ITEM
2
for taking notes
ITEM
3
for looking afar
ITEM
4
for taking notes
of my mind. The Street felt rich with symbolism: The ‘ironic’ Salomon hiking shoes, the panicky late for my bus power-walk, a woman’s icy stride in front of her assumed partner suggesting that things are tense but not tense enough to cancel plans. Most people seemed to drift from bars, cafes, and restaurants in impenetrable groups. My third storey point-of-view gave me something close to invisibility. While it feels perfectly acceptable to stare at strangers, especially if they can’t see you, I found myself spotting multiple people I knew, and for some reason only then did I feel uncomfortable. Watching someone who you’d otherwise say hi to and make small talk with from your bedroom with COVID, all the while sweating profusely, is a position I’d only put
myself in for the good of peoplewatching.
watching with intention and not simply indulging feels less like reality TV and more like a thought-provoking Pensive musings documentary on the real Crown Street, hosted by Louis Theroux. I When you watch birds and don’t expect everyone to go through planes, they can’t look at you back, all the tedious formalities, because at least not in the same way a human I certainly didn’t. It’s not even that being can. The social complexity and bad as a time-wasting activity. But even the uncomfortability may very just a bit of mindfulness makes the well be why people watching remains experience all the more wholesome. relatively unexplored. So go forth budding people-watchers and watch wholesomely! Although we notice all these little things about a person when ZH ðUVW OD\ H\HV RQ WKHP ZH RIWHQ feel ashamed of it, but we cannot hide from this innately human trait. It seems tragically cliché, but watching people is also a way of watching yourself. If we question our biases, judgement, and critical thinking, it makes us feel challenged. People-
PULP
11