Ah look at all the lonely people tum te tum te tum te tum te tum te

Posted on by inkbiotic

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“I like to prowl ordinary places
and taste the people-
from a distance.”
― Charles Bukowski, Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit

Word of the day: Farrago – a confused mass of objects or people, any disordered mixture

I’ve been spending the week paying attention to my fellow passengers on the morning train. I only see for them for a short time each day, when at my most befuddled and slow, and when everyone is sitting silently, also befuddled and slow. But over the months, I’ve noticed little dramas play out and the fascinating oddballs become apparent (this isn’t an insult by the way, I am definitely an oddball, oddballs are my people.)

For example, there are the twins, two young men who aren’t twins, but travel together with the same hairstyle and clothes and rucksack. When one gets a haircut, the other gets the same a few days later; when one starts wearing shorts the other does the next day. They get off at the same station and walk side by side, hands in pockets, the same loping walk. But they never speak to each other. They don’t sit together or acknowledge each other in any way. My conclusion is that either: they are psychic, although I’d assume they’d start wearing the shorts on the same day. OR: one is stalking, following and copying the other who doesn’t know how to get rid of him. One day I’m expecting a punch up.

Then there’s the large, middle-aged woman who wears biker boots with spikes on them, a pink streak in her hair and huge colourful jackets. I love her. She’s my hero.

Then, sometimes, there is the angry staring man.

10 thoughts on “Ah look at all the lonely people tum te tum te tum te tum te tum te”

  3. The dynamic between the twins obviously features unrequited love. Sooner or later one of them will own up and it will either be great or it will be a disaster (I hope the former). Keep watching.
    The angry, staring man? Somewhere there are another eleven in a room, waiting for him…

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    1. Love could be the answer, maybe that’s why they don’t speak, too awkward. Awkwardness can fade though and they’ll find happiness.

      I wonder how ASM got separated from his clan. I’ve not seen the film, did any of them catch a train?

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  4. Love is always the answer – it’s the bloody question that it so difficult to find.

    I don’t think he travels on a train but ASM (Henry Fonda) does prove that the sound of an overhead train would have drowned out the supposedly heard death-threat. Does that count?

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    1. That does count and may become useful information in future! I looked up pictures of Henry Fonda to see if he was a match for ASM, but in most photos he looks like a lovely smiling chap with the occasional confused/grumpy pic.
      Still, I want to see Twelve Angry Men now.

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