I could not find a picture dramatizing my post so the one of the man seated above shall have to do
I am sure many of my female readers who have ever lived in an African country can relate to the following scenario. You get onto a bus or other means of public transport and take a seat. A man comes in a few minutes later and proceeds to sit next to you. He then proceeds to open his legs as wide as possible and crush you into the corner of the seat seemingly oblivious to his actions.
I have referred to it as an African or rather third world issue since proximity is different in the West. People in the West operate like they have small force fields around them repelling each other so as not to get too close to each other. You don't have that luxury in the third world countries so people end up being in close contact more often than not.
Anyway back to the matter at hand. The funny thing is that most men don't even realize that they are doing it until of course the lady seated next to them complains bitterly about it. Sociologists do say that seating with your legs spread eagle when it comes to business is a show of power (feel free to dispute this). That and the fact that we all know how many African and other third world men feel like they are the dog's pyjamas wouldn't preclude them from sitting in such a way. In my defence, I sit like that due to the fact that I have balls of brass. Even so it's always interesting to see how body language and expression changes from place to place according to gender roles and perception. I'll think of that the next time I'm trying to keep my legs closed so as not to smoosh a lady against the the bus window. As for the rest of the men out there, I shall leave it to your ladies to school them since social issues are hardly my forte.
In other news the recession is continuing to bite. I am trying to find a way to blog about it but words fail me for the most part since it's like someone telling you write about a tornado, you know what it is you are looking at but describing it is the hard part. This is a small snippet of the panorama, there is this lady who weathered out the Great Depression in the 30's, she has videos on-line of the frugal meals they made from basic ingredients that got them through. The videos are a hit and her website is down due to too much traffic. But as the Good Book says, "It came to pass," so I am not fretting.
Ps: Useless Acolyte trivia #2301 - Acolyte loves coming home to a silence. He finds it very calming and relaxing....
