- Jul 9, 2010
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- 26,536
- AFL Club
- Fremantle
When I moved over to Mawbs, one thing I noticed was the heads-down mentality of everyone in the suburban street. You'd be walking home at 5pm or 10am Saturday and there were no 'hellos' from one person to another – the closest was big-noting women with puffy jackets and inbred dogs thinly competing a surgeon husband to a lawyer at Atherton Reserve – it was all heads down, anonymity.
When I came back between semesters, it was always a cool little quirk to walk down to the shops and have someone say 'hey mate' as they walked their dog.
The general exchange is: you don't want to be their friend, there's no stop and chat, it's just a person-to-person, humanist interchange as you both pass. 'Gidday.' 'Nice night hey.' That's it.
What strikes me as strange is people who do not return this.
I live in an area pretty much crawling with baby boomers amongst the students (increasingly priced out) and career hospo folk. Something I've noticed lately is how often people (aka boomers, people under 20) shirk the very idea of a hello. For example, this afternoon I was walking back from the shops and this old bastard was looking me up and down from metres away... as we got within three, he looked down and to the other side. Very intentional. When I was taking the recycling down, some woman was doing the same – so clearly a neighbour – and I said 'hey.' No response. 'Oh fantastic!' I said. No response. 'Pretty *in rude' I said loud enough for the old bat to hear.
Another example is being at my girlfriend's about six months ago. We were going to Taylor Swift and it must've been a Saturday. December. Beautiful. I reckon 30 degrees, sun's out, no sky, it's 9/11 loike up there. We leave to walk to Newmarket Station. In front are two women (40s, probably late 30s) with a couple of six year old girls. Now I love the vibe of a big concert... one person, whored out and whoring out to an industry, but still one person drawing in 55,000 to have a good time and forget the debt and bills and what Terry's done and what's due at work; the magnet of a good sized city all going to this one little space. The worry your seats'll suck, the angst and nerves of getting there too late, the tension and excitement. They're walking in front of us and I see their ticket. We all had a can in our hands but it's barely three trackie-dacked-decked meth heads. 'Ah Taylor Swift! You guys excited?' They looked at me like I asked them if they had a pet ferret I could *.
My favourite thing to do is to seize up an old boomer and say 'hey, how are you?' They generally won't reply, especially with headphones in. Saying hi again is a pretty good tactic. At this point they definitely won't reply, or if they do it's a nice little surprise and you give them the benefit of doubt – being a silly old deaf campaigner. Anyway at this point I pull out a 'I did actually say hi to you' and at this point they s**t, get apologetic and usually lie about how they said hello or something before. Good game to pay as some old campaigner with a cancer growing on his prostate clips his ugly introduced flowers.
So – do you say hi to your neighbours or people in your neighbourhood?
Do you tense up, worry, and scare if someone is about to do this?
Do you find it odd if people don't return a simple, easy 'hey' as a gesture?
Are people becoming increasingly ******* odd?
When I came back between semesters, it was always a cool little quirk to walk down to the shops and have someone say 'hey mate' as they walked their dog.
The general exchange is: you don't want to be their friend, there's no stop and chat, it's just a person-to-person, humanist interchange as you both pass. 'Gidday.' 'Nice night hey.' That's it.
What strikes me as strange is people who do not return this.
I live in an area pretty much crawling with baby boomers amongst the students (increasingly priced out) and career hospo folk. Something I've noticed lately is how often people (aka boomers, people under 20) shirk the very idea of a hello. For example, this afternoon I was walking back from the shops and this old bastard was looking me up and down from metres away... as we got within three, he looked down and to the other side. Very intentional. When I was taking the recycling down, some woman was doing the same – so clearly a neighbour – and I said 'hey.' No response. 'Oh fantastic!' I said. No response. 'Pretty *in rude' I said loud enough for the old bat to hear.
Another example is being at my girlfriend's about six months ago. We were going to Taylor Swift and it must've been a Saturday. December. Beautiful. I reckon 30 degrees, sun's out, no sky, it's 9/11 loike up there. We leave to walk to Newmarket Station. In front are two women (40s, probably late 30s) with a couple of six year old girls. Now I love the vibe of a big concert... one person, whored out and whoring out to an industry, but still one person drawing in 55,000 to have a good time and forget the debt and bills and what Terry's done and what's due at work; the magnet of a good sized city all going to this one little space. The worry your seats'll suck, the angst and nerves of getting there too late, the tension and excitement. They're walking in front of us and I see their ticket. We all had a can in our hands but it's barely three trackie-dacked-decked meth heads. 'Ah Taylor Swift! You guys excited?' They looked at me like I asked them if they had a pet ferret I could *.
My favourite thing to do is to seize up an old boomer and say 'hey, how are you?' They generally won't reply, especially with headphones in. Saying hi again is a pretty good tactic. At this point they definitely won't reply, or if they do it's a nice little surprise and you give them the benefit of doubt – being a silly old deaf campaigner. Anyway at this point I pull out a 'I did actually say hi to you' and at this point they s**t, get apologetic and usually lie about how they said hello or something before. Good game to pay as some old campaigner with a cancer growing on his prostate clips his ugly introduced flowers.
So – do you say hi to your neighbours or people in your neighbourhood?
Do you tense up, worry, and scare if someone is about to do this?
Do you find it odd if people don't return a simple, easy 'hey' as a gesture?
Are people becoming increasingly ******* odd?
