Odd Man Walking.
March 6, 2006
Sitting in the bistro enjoying my omelette, Sunday creaking out from behind the steel and white of downtown. It’s a beautifully prepared shot of eggs – perfectly browned with a hot middle of bacon and cheddar. The ‘ol Sunday brunch is an all too rare indulgence it seems, so it should be savoured and lingered over.
Man with a paint-splattered parka walks by the window and catches my eye. He’s got looks of content and bewilderment on his mug and gazes up at the sky as he saunters past. Holds a piece of paper in his workday mitt and scans it. What it says, who knows, but it seems key to his meandering. He walks back and forth past the window a few times. Looks up at the awning for a few moments and then walks around in front of the window some more. His size 14’s have the steel cap showing through the leather and his jacket has a splash of white latex all over the front of it. He’s obviously eyeing something up, but what that something is and for what purpose, who knows.
The window frames a few other Sunday walkers, but none as interesting as that man. Funny. Sometimes an omelette is all a guy can figure out on a Sunday morning.
Vignette #43
5 reader comments (closed)
2
Dude, I’m sick. Back on Monday. Promise.
3
Tom
Rest up Mike:
Suddenly I feel like an Omelette.
Where is this Bistro ?
4
109 street bistro – 109st and 100 ave, just south of Jasper. Nice place. Good omelettes.
5
It wasn’t my notebook he was reading, was it?
StreetRag ::: An Urban Notebook
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About
StreetRag is an urban weblog and podcast about the city of Edmonton, which is located in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is authored by Edmonton-based writer, web advocate, and poet Michael Gravel and is updated frequently with written urban vignettes, amateurish photographs, deuteronomous audio material, barely coherent musings and rambling ecumenical treatises. StreetRag is a love letter to a lonely prairie burg struggling with its big city ambitions and small-town feel.
Recent Vignettes
- About StreetRag • #260
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March 31, 2008 • - Cigarettes and Aspirin • #257
March 28, 2008 • - Subscribe Archive
Podcast Episodes
- North Station • Ep. #13
March 26, 2008 - The Winter Market • Ep. #12
March 19, 2008 - Third Cafe Sketch • Ep. #11
March 11, 2008 • 2 comments - Industrial Park Jam • Ep. #10
November 14, 2007 - Subscribe (iTunes) Information
The City
The city is Edmonton. It's a subject, not a passion. E-Town is almost universally derided by outsiders as an unlivable tundra wasteland populated by oil-hungry redneck conservatives who despise the arts. All of that is true. But it's not the whole story. There is beauty here. Dusty snowfalls. Brilliant summers. A stunning river valley. A diverse arts community that flourishes. It's a place that inspires a gray relationship - not all good, not all shitty. For that reason alone it is lovable, for what is life but a grayscale?
1
Rich
Hey bastard, why no updates this week?
Mar 10, 2006 • 15:27