Lunch with Sarah in the Hogshead, peoplewatching from the window overlooking South Street, followed by shopping at MVC (we both escaped empty handed), Oddbins (new case of beer) and Waterstones (three new paperbacks for me, and Sarah got some bits and pieces too).
Outside Waterstones, a couple of people seemed to be taking turns to lie in the middle of the pavement, as if they had collapsed there, whilst the other looked on from a discreet distance. They were both goths, clearly far too heavily influenced by Marilyn Manson to merit much respect in Chichester. The reaction of passers by was interesting – most clearly thought that the person lying there was merely drunk and had chosen to pass out in an inconvenient spot. I could see the whole thing from the bookshop, and I didn’t see anybody stop to help. One person did ask the assistant in the store if he thought that they should call an ambulance, but interestingly they did this without actually checking the condition of the person on the pavement. As for the assistant, I think he just found it slightly amusing, heading towards irritating, and was on the point of going out and asking them to move on. But it also provided a bit of light relief in his afternoon of credit card swiping and shelf rearrangement.
It’s been a beautiful day. My stroll down to Waitrose and back was bathed in pleasant warm sunshine, although there is a slight chill in the breeze. The daffodils are in full flower, and the birds are singing (you can hear a nest of chicks squealing as you cross the bridge over the Avenue de Chartres, although I couldn’t quite see which branch the nest was in) – I think it is safe to say that spring is truly here (cue: snow and howling gale).
separating the wanted from the unwanted