It’s a nice summer afternoon. As if Twitter had set everyone up to it, all young people are taking over the park dragging bottles of pink wine and bags full of baguettes and pate with them. Men are controlling the barbecue and kick some balls around. Ladies shine up their sunglasses and try to absorb as much sun as possible with their skin. And watching people of course.
There’s always something extra when you’re watching people.
Two officers on bike pass by some boys and reprimand them for making a fire. ‘But Mr. Officer, the barbecue is already off.’ It’s hot and their young, is what the men in uniform must have thought. After a simple, ‘yeah all right’, they bike along, slowly. Two horny pigeons attack a boy who is trying to eat his sandwich. A young lady lights up a smoke after sending her daughter to the playground with a slice of salami.
Three elderly people take their places on a small bench. Seventy years old, maybe even seventy five. Beige, linen pants, a thin white fleece vest, just stepped out of a brochure for a camping store. A vast smile is set on their faces and they’re satisfied, looking out over the spread out green, covered with abundance. We offer them a glass of wine. This they refuse, but the lady can’t let us go without telling us how much she is enjoying the scene.
‘Isn’t it wonderful, the way you are all sitting here, living your lives. Truly wonderful, you know.’
I think she is sincere about it and it comforts me. For how great would it be if I could sit on a bench with my friends, in say 50 years or so, with the same satisfied smile as I have on my face today, just looking at people to see how fortuned we all are?