People Watching

When you sit down in a café with some reading and a Leffe, it's impossible not to look around once in a while. Merely to lift the Leffe to your lips requires a change in concentration that inevitably becomes an observation of your environment. In a café that means people-watching.

There in the corner two teenage French girls work intently in front of a white Macbook. The only question is if their project is for lycée or for the fac.

Next to you, three Arabs converse with one white girl. They smoke and sip coffee, but there's no alcohol. Like almost any café in Northern Africa. Except here, one of them--the one continually asserting his dominion with his right arm--has a European girl.

The two girls across the way just finished shopping: a glass of wine to cap off an afternoon of "doing the stores", as they say in French.

There's a couple, but it's hard to tell what stage their relationship is in. Did she just have a bad day? Is he indulging her by listening to her complain? Perhaps their relationship is just based around something very serious.

And then there are the loners:

The attractive young woman near the door has two empty beer glasses in front of her. The other must be taking a quick bathroom break before leaving. You are curious, though, does that second glass belong to a man or a woman?

The older woman over there is reading Vogue and smoking a cig, also finishing up a day of purchases (the café is next to a mall, of course). Maybe she is waiting for someone. Or does she just not want to go home yet?

Is that other woman near her grading papers or reviewing proposals?

Is he reading Le Monde to while away the time waiting for a friend or does he just prefer reading in a café?

And why is that guy sitting alone, sipping that beer and writing, on a Friday night?