The Quality of a Public Life

Last night I was sitting on my own in a small run down coffee shop in central Sydney, gazing out of the window onto the bustling street outside with what must have been a very melancholy expression on my face. It was between my first and second sips of coffee that it suddenly hit me who I was at that moment in time. Gazing through the window, in a quiet world of my own taking time out from the hectic life of the city. It suddenley hit me that 'Yes, I was that person' that person who I have seen so many times before, that nameless person who you glimpse as you pass through our man made urban jungles. The person who, as David Bowie so stylishly observed, thought he saw in an ice cream parlour, drinking milkshakes cold and long. Indeed someone could have written a song about me last night and I wouldn’t even know I was in their song. I don’t know what it is that attracts our gaze to these people. They are usually poor wretches walking or sitting alone and I assume it is their stories that we are interested in, we somehow have a desire to want to know who they are and what their story is. But they are people who I always notice especially while passing by in a car, the windows up, almost immune to the dust, smells, noises and people outside.
It is an enduring quality of our urban environments that create such varying degrees of interest and cross pollination of views, thoughts and sights. For instance before I realised who I was last night I was thinking about what was on at the theatre. And I dare say if anyone did notice me while passing they could have been thinking of something equally as random. Ofcourse there is a small chance that they were actually walking around looking for inspiration for thier 70's inspired concept album but i doubt it. But with that my friend i can try to show why we love to live in cities…..unpredictability with interest and distractions on every corner. For all the faults and problems of urban living, it is undoubtably one of the most interesting places to be.