Easily Amused

I don't have to watch TV or go to the movies for my entertainment.  My neighborhood has four bars - one next door, one behind my building and two more in the next block.  On any given night, but especially on the weekend, I can sit in my rocking chair next to a window that looks down onto the street below and be entertained.

One of the establishments just recently added one of those rolling bars that is set up like a regular bar with a bartender and bar stools, except it is outdoors and the patrons on the stools sit, drink and pedal like mad as if they were on a bicycle.  I don't know what the name of the contraption is, but it is the silliest looking thing.  It gets even more silly when the patron sitting in the back forgets where he is, slides off his stool and winds up sitting in the middle of the street watching his ride and his drink disappear around the corner.

Not very long ago we had a hard rain that left a big puddle in the middle of the alley that is across from my window.  Folks use that alley to walk from one of the bars in the next block to the bar next door to my building.  As I was sitting in my rocking chair in front of my window enjoying the cool evening breeze, I noticed two men walking my way.  The walking part may be exaggerated.  They were more shuffling along, holding each other up, taking extreme care to avoid the rain puddles, right up to the point where they came to the aforementioned big puddle.  One man went to the right and the other to the left.  Now that each no longer had the other to hang onto for support, both started to weave and side-step and both tried really hard to maintain balance.....until both finally gave up and sat down - in the middle of the puddle.  The last I saw of them, they were happily splashing each other like a couple of kids in a bathtub.

My all time favorite happened a couple of winters ago.  Snow had been falling steadily all day.  I like to watch the street below, with its old-fashioned looking street lights, turn Christmas card pretty with the snow.  A fellow came out of the bar next door, made his way across the street and started to clean the snow off a car.  He was meticulous about it, making sure the headlights and tail lights were clear of snow, getting the ice off of the windshield wipers and making sure that there was no snow on the hood, roof or any of the windows.  It took him a while, as there had been about a foot of snow on the car, and he was having a time for himself, trying not to slip and slide.  He had just finished, having done a really good job of it, when another fellow came along, looked at the first man, then at the car, shook the first man's hand, slapped him on the back, got into the car and drove away.  The fellow who had spent so much time removing snow from the car just stood and looked at the empty parking space for a time, then put his hands in his pockets and slowly walked away.  I wondered if he had forgotten that he had walked downtown and left his car home in his garage.

I have always enjoyed people watching and my location makes it just that much more fun.  I guess I really am easily amused.