Monday evening: the pickpocket and the pretty girl

Here it is, the long-awaited, much sensated, over-rated post about (the Duke of Plaza-Toro??) the events of Monday evening.

Some Monday evenings I catch up with John for coffee, especially since we never have rehearsals together now. We used to go to Au Bon Pain, but they stopped selling hot chocolate, so we have gone to Dunkin Donuts instead for the last couple of times. Now DD has a slightly different clientele, including one man called Dan. He was sitting at a table near us, and insisted on coming and talking to us. He was sitting a little close for comfort, and we were each trying to work out how to most quickly get rid of him. I initially thought he might talk himself out, but he was obviously under the influence of something, and as John said later, they never do. Eventually John announced 'well, if we don't get moving, we're going to be late' and we left. Dan obviously noticed that we were just trying to get away from him, but seemed to accept it ok.

When we were out the door John advised me to check my pockets. As I was trying to discourage Dan from talking, someone leaving the store had mouthed to John "he's trying to pickpocket your friend". I still had all my belongings, so we rather hurriedly headed to SP to get away from him (though he didn't show any sign of following).

After John left, I went downstairs to do my laundry. On the way to the laundry is a rather unnecessary door: it separates two parts of the corridor, but it doesn't lock, so I'm not sure of its purpose. On my return, I was approaching this door at the same time as someone else from the other side. If this person had been two steps further forward, I would have definitely held the door open for them (it opens towards me). If she had been one step further forward, I probably would have held the door open for her in any case - I am more likely to hold a door open for a woman than a man (and I have noticed that women are more likely to expect it than men). As I opened the door, I noticed that she was particularly pretty. My instinctive reaction was to step back and hold the door open for her, even though she was just too far away for that to be necessary. She said thank you and continued on her way, to the gym, if I judge correctly based on what she was wearing and the fact she was carrying a bottle of water. I went through the door (not keeping it open for the next man to come through, even though he was by then a similar distance away) and headed back to my room.

While walking, I was a bit amused by what my immediate reaction had been. It's hardly surprising for a 23 year old man to notice attractive young women, but I believe that was the first time I've noticed myself do something differently based purely on someone's appearance. Ok, holding a door open is hardly an amazing or important thing to do differently, but it reminded me of the psychological study mentioned on an SBS science program I saw at one point in Australia. People's impressions of an applicant for a job were there strongly influenced by whether they were handed a warm or a cold drink at the time they were introduced. I guess the lesson is that our instincts really do strongly influence our actions, especially when we have less time to think logically.