Human Connections
Real moments between people living abroad: a stranger who helped, a friend you lost touch with, someone you wish you had spoken to.
A woman in slippers handed me a better shovel and dug out my car
A snowplow buried my car in the North End on a Sunday and I stood on the sidewalk with a plastic shovel and a sinking feeling. A woman came out of her house in slippers, handed me a better shovel, and the two of us dug for twenty minutes. She would not let me thank her properly. She said, we all get buried. I left a lo...
Thank youMy plant died but the borrowed cart is doing well
I bought a very big plant at Kensington Market on Saturday afternoon and then realised I had no way to get it home across the city. A man at the next stall offered me a wheeled cart for the afternoon and asked me to bring it back by six. I did. He had waited. I will never know why he trusted me with a cart that was pro...
Thank youThank you for the sofa, and for finishing your beer on my landing
It was moving day in Montreal, July 1, and my truck was stuck behind three others on a Plateau street with a sofa on the sidewalk. A stranger holding a beer put it down, took one end of the sofa, and the two of us carried it up four flights of stairs. He finished the beer on the landing and left. I still do not know wh...
Thank youThe elevator was out, and a nurse took one end of my suitcase
The elevator was out at the Astoria station and I was staring at a long flight of steps with a suitcase the size of a person. A woman in a nurse's uniform took one end without asking and we carried it up together, quickly, like a rescue. She said, I do this twice a week. At the top she went her way and I went mine. I t...
Thank youThank you for the bolt in Al Quoz, and for not taking my money
My car stalled in Al Quoz on a July afternoon, forty seven degrees, and I was sure it was the engine. A mechanic walked over from a small garage, checked the battery cable, tightened one bolt in thirty seconds, and refused any money. He said it was too small to charge for. I went home with a working car and a feeling t...
Thank youThank you for keeping my raincoat behind your desk
I left my raincoat on a bus stop bench in El Cangrejo in the rainy season, which is a mistake you make exactly once. A security guard at the building next door kept it behind his desk for three days and gave it back with a small bow. I did not know there was a lost raincoat system. There is now. It is called him. I tak...
Question for localsWhat do people with pets do when a hurricane warning goes up?
I drove down here from Miami with two cats and a vague plan, and last week the grey one sat on the windowsill for an hour watching a sky the colour of dishwater. It turned out to be nothing, but it made me realise I do not have a plan. Hurricane season runs from June to November, and I live in Centro, with a carrier I...
Lost and foundFound: a faded blue beach bag with a notebook, Playa La Paz
Found on Thursday morning near the entrance to Playa La Paz: a faded blue beach bag. Inside is a towel with yellow stripes, a pair of sunglasses in a hard case, and a notebook with a green cover. The notebook is full of handwritten recipes in pencil, and I would hate for it to end up in a bin. I picked the bag up so th...
Question for localsDoes home wifi in Tulum always get worse when the afternoon rain comes?
I buy fruit in the morning at the Mercado Municipal, where the smell of cut pineapple reaches the street before the stalls do. Then I go home and work. Most days the connection is fine until the afternoon rain, and then it slows or drops for an hour. My neighbours shrug and say it is normal. Is it normal for home wifi...
OverheardEverything goes to the beach if you wait long enough
City bus on Avenida Tulum, afternoon. A woman with a beach bag asked the driver, "Does this bus go to the beach?" He said, "Everything goes to the beach if you wait long enough." She sat down. Nobody else reacted. Rain started ten minutes later and the windows fogged up. I stayed on past my stop, curious. Not a method...
Thank youTo the man on the bench at Parque Mexico who whistled my dog home
My dog slipped her lead at Parque Mexico one Tuesday morning and I spent twenty minutes running around the fountain, calling her name in a voice I did not recognise. A man on a bench stood up, whistled once, and she came straight to him. He handed me the lead and said, she is a good one, keep her close. I almost cried...
Question for localsIs the tip screen at the counter really for everyone?
At a small place in Kensington Market I ordered at the counter, and the card machine turned toward me with tip buttons before I had any food. Nobody was going to bring it to my table. I pressed the lowest button and felt rude. Do people here tip at counter service, and what do you do when the screen turns to face you?
Thank you"Blue Line?" asked a man outside a pizza place, and walked me there
It was after midnight near Wicker Park and I had a dead phone and a very light jacket. A man coming out of a pizza place looked at me and said, Blue Line? He walked three blocks with me in the cold, pointed at the stairs, and went back to his friends. I got home with feeling in my toes and a small lesson about how to t...
Question for localsHow does the bus between the two towns work, and where do I pay?
I stay near the Cabo San Lucas marina for part of the year and I would like to spend a day in the other town. It is about thirty minutes by car and I have heard there is a bus. I do not know which stop to use, which side of the road to wait on, or whether there is a timetable. Do you pay on board in pesos, or buy a tic...
Thank youIt is the yellow one, you cannot miss it
I was lost on a one way street in East Austin on a Saturday afternoon, trying to find a house I had only seen on a map. A man watering his front garden walked over, told me where to turn, then went back to his hose and said, it is the yellow one, you cannot miss it. It was yellow. I could have missed it. I did not, bec...
Lost and foundDid anyone find a green canvas tote with a yellow fish on it?
Did anyone find a dark green canvas tote on a bench along the Han River promenade on Saturday evening? It has a small yellow fish stitched near the handle, and the zip pull has been replaced with a bit of red string. Inside is a plain notebook full of pressed leaves and sketches for a friend's wedding gift. If it was h...
First time hereThe first Friday back, the road outside our restaurant stopped being a road
I came back to the family restaurant after some time away, and on the first Friday I walked out front at dusk to find the lane closed to traffic and full of people on foot. Fisherman's Village holds a walking street on Fridays, and I had forgotten how completely it takes over. The old buildings were the same. What had...
Missed connectionKeep going, I said, and you did
You were throwing a blue frisbee to a dog in Pole Mokotowskie on Sunday afternoon and every time the dog caught it you bowed to the whole field like it was a show. I was on a blanket with a book, pretending to read. On the tenth catch the frisbee landed on my blanket. You came to get it. You said, sorry. I said, keep g...
A chance meetingNow we eat, said the woman who also missed the ferry
The ferry left Thong Sala pier twenty minutes early and I stood on the boards with my bag, watching it go. A woman next to me, also left behind, said, okay, now we eat. We got fried rice from a cart and sat on the pier steps until the late boat, sharing one fork, because the cart had one. The rice was not that good. I...
Thank youI made the ferry at Nathon pier because a worker carried my suitcase
I ran down the boards at Nathon pier on a Friday afternoon with a suitcase and a very tight bus connection, and the ferry worker saw me from the ramp. He held up one hand to the crew, picked up the end of my suitcase, and walked me on. I made the boat by about ten seconds. He did not wait for thanks. He was already loo...
Lost touchIf you come back to the Mekong steps in Luang Prabang, I will bring mangoes
I was sitting on the steps by the Mekong riverfront one October afternoon at five, holding a bag of mangoes I could not finish, when two of you rode up on borrowed bicycles. You took half. We sat there until the light went orange and swapped bad jokes in three languages. One of you said, this is the best mango of the t...
Missed connectionYour very small dog approved of my jogging
You were walking a very small dog in a very small jacket along Dubai Marina Walk at 7pm and the dog was clearly the one in charge. I was jogging badly past with a water bottle. The dog stopped dead in front of me, looked up, and decided I was acceptable. You apologised. I said, do not. We both ended up laughing next to...
Missed connectionI lost a sandal in the waves and a pink bicycle brought it back
Early one morning on My Khe Beach I lost a sandal in the waves and was hopping along the sand looking for it. You were riding a pink bicycle along the water's edge, stopped, picked up a sandal that was not mine, then another one that was, and handed it over with a very serious face. Then you rode on. I put it on. It wa...
Missed connectionYou slowed down for a few steps and we ran side by side
On the second lap by the lake in Lumphini Park at 6am, you passed me in green headphones and slowed down for exactly three steps, so that we ran side by side, then sped up again like it was a polite joke. I was the one in the grey shirt trying not to die. I have run the park every morning since, hoping for another thre...
