Two endearing things

This posting has no purpose other than to relay two interesting and heart-tugging little vignettes I witnessed in the past 24 hours.

The first occurred on an evening stroll with my housemate. Passing by one of the many Polish churches in our neighbourhood, we noticed a group of people crowded around hundreds and hundreds of red and orange candles. At the front, facing the blaze, was a line of nine kneeling women, each between the ages of 15 and 25. They were singing a beautiful, sorrowful song in Polish. At first, I thought they were all together. Then two got up and left, completely separate of the rest of the assembly. It turns out November 1st is a national day of remembrance in Poland, and people were dropping in to churches everywhere to pay their respects. Anyhow, it was a lovely little moment to stumble across.

The second is more funny than poignant. Twice in the past two days, I've walked past a little coffee shop on Queen Street (see yesterday's post about the truant interviewee, who, incidentally, turned out to be delightful and charming with a totally convincing alibi). Both times, there were only two people in it - two older gentlemen. Both times, they were playing cards and laughing. Both times, each had a drink beside him (wine yesterday, beer today). I find it utterly amusing that these two retired guys take so much pleasure in spending their days playing cribbage with one another in a dive cafe.