[28] mingle

I fully intended to go in to the office and work there, even though no one else would be there. 

Only, well. It's raining out there, and I would have drag my computer back and forth (even though it is lighter now, it does not tolerate rain well), and somehow I have actually gotten work done at home, so the office isn't necessary.

Pretty soon, though, I am going to leave the house and brave the rain to go downtown and mingle amongst the crowds. 

...

Later:

I did, in fact, leave the house and brave the rain to go downtown and mingle amongst the crowds. The rain took some braving, though, and I made the mistake of wearing jeans. (Wet. Also cold.)

I wandered through a couple of stores, just to see what was on offer, and I sat for a long time in the bucks of Star, drinking a chai. It was raining pretty hard while I was in there, which is why I lingered for so long. 

People streamed by on the sidewalk. 

A little girl pulled back on her dad's hand, trying to slow him down. 

A woman in stiletto booties with cutouts stalked by (the teenage girls sitting next to me remarked on how cold and wet her feet must be). 

A group of police officers collected in front of the window as they do for major downtown events, then they separated and went about their various activities. At one point, I noticed that every time the train stopped, two police officers and a police dog got on the train, moved all the way along it, and then got off before the train started up again. Bomb-sniffing dog, I guessed, and that was confirmed when I saw that the truck with Police Dog written on the back was from the airport police.

I wandered through a couple more stores - I tried on an amazing skirt but reminded myself that stores are lovely museums for me now, where beautiful textiles are available to be touched and tried on, but they cannot come home with you - and when I came out, the big tree in the main square had been illuminated. I took a couple of pictures, in the middle of which my phone froze, and the older man standing next to me took selfies of himself with his hand pinched as if he was holding the star at the top of the tree. Then he taught a 20 year old how to do it.