3 older women.
There was Carlotta who sat next to me on the bench outside nearby coffee shop of a sunday afternoon. She wore copper chords and tall boots, a long tawny merino cardi to her knees, Raybans, a little purse-bag - subtle green old suede with a big solid silver fastener, lots of blond hair, immaculate. Must have been nearly 60 and looking well. She used dowsing to sell paintings, was a health consultant (private) and was currently dowsing for gold in Colorado as a project. Her mother told her on her deathbed never to give up the pendulum. She came across sane but certainly eccentric. She said there were 6 rodents for every human in the city when I told her about mine. She believed life was too short to buy 'nack-offs' or copies of designer items. We celebrated Wholefoods.
Patricia, over 60, sat opposite me in the big well-lit cafe upstairs of Wholefoods near where I live with a big smorgasbord help-yerself cardbox box of raw stuff. A cold day, I was glad of choosing hot macaroni cheese and hot provencal white beans with some roasted tomatoes. In her brown broad shouldered suit and stretched tight facial skin and small eyes, she owned a Broadway theater and nonchalantly said she'd just bought Charing Cross theater in London with joined pub and was offering membership deals to the PriceWaterhouse-Coopers employees who worked in the stories above it. She didn't smile once but seemed to be enjoying things. She told me that Romney promised to make women into prisoners if they had abortions. Why are women voting for him she exclaimed - I dont understand! Crazy times.
Adele I met on a bench outside the library. A character full of humour with a worn serious face. We enjoyed bitching about the miserable library staff, one of whom had told her off for being loud when she had a stern word with a child who was being loud. They are a funny staff. Adele must have been 70 - loads of rouge and black eye-liner and copper died hair. Black velvety outfit on her teeny frame sitting there with crossed arms and legs unamused by it all. She had worked in PR all her life and said they were all sleaze-bags. They had tricked her out of an artistic career. I described Madmen to her and she nodded. She added that PR were way ahead of advertising. I described Downton Abbey to her and we seemed to agree, based on my descriptions only, on its superiority owing to the couple of redemptive characters in it - who were kind and noble and interested in justice. I mentioned the wife in Madmen as a victim. Fascinatingly she took real objection. She closed her eyes and shook her head and said 'dont call her a victim - it's far more complicated than that.' I laughed and we chatted on. When I handed her my book 'The joy of living dangerously' (which I'm not yet but have made in-roads there) she held it one INCH from her good eye and scanned the title letter by letter. Her advice on buying a card for a pretty woman at work who only wears black ever and who I don't know, was not to risk a colourful card. She said she might freak out. I agreed.
John, my musical partner pointed out that the closeness of everything in Manhattan/Brookyln meant that you can get a lot done in a day in the way of meeing people, short trips etc. Made me think how that coupled with the ease of public chats must do a lot for business and development.
Carlotta claimed that staff in stores are expected to bring in clientele - a bit like having your own business but she dowses for Gold in Colorado.
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