MISTAKEN FOR A STRANGER

Ok, first I want to say, in spring, what an incredible city this is, Wellington. There are flowers everywhere. Wild flowers in every unused and unusable patch of ground or crack in the concrete. It’s like every plant is saying: stand back, look, I will show you. Even the weeds. The creeper over my door is in forest trap mode with his long creepy arms reaching out everywhere. I cut it back high and tight.

My third rose cutting which had shewed me not any promise and had wrinkled up, after more than four months, un-withered himself and put out leaves, making himself the third miracle.

Walking home the other day I noticed someone I knew about 10-15 metres in front of me. Moving in the same direction as me and the perfect distance to cause indecision on whether to run up and say hello (would that be weird?) or just keep on and pretend that I hadn’t noticed her. It’s would take a certain level of confidence and care to do so. My confidence was good, but my care was low. She was the go with the flow type so I don’t think it would have been awkward. Then she started checking her reflection in the shop windows as she walked along and it became humorous, so I resorted to watching the men react to her as they passed, as she was fairly striking. A good form of entertainment with the like. I remember being in the Napier CBD early one morning when I spied the lawyer who patronised the now recession dead company I worked for, walking along the other side of the street with his head stuck with his chin over his left shoulder for the length of the street. Impudent like. I looked down the street to see what it was about and saw a friend stepping into her office. I wonder if that happened often, since their hours must have been quite regular. He was the number one lawyer in Hawke’s Bay and he was dodgy and expensive. He made me think I should avoid lawyers at all costs.

On that same street there was a gallery that I came out off once and at random my brother was walking past (incidentally he’s now studying law). The funny thing was I didn’t recognise him and my mind quickly made up a profile that sadly was more impressive and empathetic than the way I thought of him which focused more on what I knew of his personality and differences or extremities. I didn’t see what was in-between. I keep that memory as a reminder on how blind I am to things I take for granted or maybe a lesson on perspectives and history.