Pause

For Karen (hehehe)

Crossing the road is really tricky here. Well, I mean, duh, you either wait for the little green man to light up on the light, or you look both ways real carefully and then make a mad dash for it. On smaller roads it's better to make a run for it, and unless you're feeling really brave, you should just wait your turn on the larger ones.

Today I was waiting with a crowd of people on the sidewalk to cross the street. Everyone kind of zones out as cars speed by, and when the light finally does turn in the pedestrian's favor, it takes a second for the green to register in people's brains, and then have their brains tell their feet they can start moving. It takes about the same time for everyone to pick up on the fact that they can go now, so there's this shared moment right before everyone starts crossing. A kind of hesitation before you're on the move again.

It's also a great time to get ahead of all those slow European walkers who were taking up the entire sidewalk in front of you. I mean, I get taking your time and smelling the roses and stuff, but... sometimes I don't want to take four and a half hours walking to my apartment. I just want to be there and take off my heavy backpack and my pinching shoes and smell Isabel's cooking and know there is nowhere else I am required to be for the rest of the night.

But that pause is nice. It's kind of a great unifier. Even if, and perhaps just because, it's only for a second.