On a recent trip to Victoria, I was walking along the seawall of the outer harbour enjoying the sights – float planes landing and taking off to Seattle or Vancouver, water taxis, whale watching boats, pleasure cruisers, the Seattle passenger ferry. Glorious day, sun shining, water sparkling, stateside mountains in the distance. I passed quite a few people on that pathway – dog walkers, joggers, strollers and it didn’t take long for me to notice something very strange about all these people.
No one made eye contact, no one talked to anyone. At all.
So what is strange about that? Well here in small town British Columbia if you were to walk a similar route along our beach, or anywhere else for that matter in our town, people are always making eye contact, always saying hello, and sometimes even stopping to chat with total strangers. Admiring a pet dog often leads to hearing their entire life’s story. It’s a very noticeable difference to street life in the city. Which makes sense I guess – in the city if you were to say hello to everyone you passed as is the norm in small town, you would be exhausted by the end of the block and perhaps even arrested. Different world.
However there are people who do speak to you on the city streets. Continue reading
