Musings from Market Square

Hello everybody!  I am back with another post and this one is more for entertainment than about my life with a disability.  For those of you that have been following my blog, you know that I take the Wildcat Bus from Market Square to UNH, for those who have just joined in, now you know!  Downtown Portsmouth is a lovely area to walk around either with friends or by yourself, but while you are there, you will see some very colorful people hanging around on the brick sidewalks.  Now, I will tell you these stories about these people with all the love in my heart, but they do make for interesting stories. In this post, I will, in no particular order, share some of my favorite encounters from Market Square.  Full disclosure, I do not personally know any of these people and the stories I will be sharing are just my observations, no judgment attached.  With that, here are my tales!

 

When I wait for the bus to take me to campus, I sit in the Starbucks cafe, order my vanilla latte with coconut milk and observe the patrons around me.  So one day, I got my coffee and I sat at a window seat.  When I look over to one of the seats behind me I see a man with a blindfold on.  Now I realized that he was there before me so I am not sure how long this gentleman has been there with this bandana covering his eyes, but since from the time I sat down to the time I noticed that he has taken it off it was a good twenty minutes.  Maybe he was meditating, maybe not, I am not entirely sure, but I found it interesting.  Another thing was he was holding a coffee cup all the while, but I never saw him drinking it.  I thought this gentleman was intriguing and caught my eye because who wears a blindfold in public?  Like I said, colorful people.

Waiting for the bus is always an adventure because you never know what you will see or who you will meet.  There is always someone who sits on the stoop outside of Starbucks, some with paintings they have made themselves, others playing an instrument.  Either way, there is always something going on on this particular corner.  Usually, especially during the warmer months, there are people with their dogs enjoying their beverage outside the coffee shop.  On one particular day, I encountered a Golden Retriever puppy who was getting a pupachino (a cup filled with whipped cream) for his birthday.  His name was George and it was his first birthday.  While his owner was inside ordering their treats, I sat outside with George and kept him company.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE dog person.  That little pup made my day!

Starbucks in Market Square is home to many regulars who fuel up for their day with not-so-cheap coffee.  One of these people is a lady with vibrant pink hair.  I admire her confidence to dye her hair that bright pink, I know I couldn’t.  As I have noted before, I do not know any of these people, but I do know that woman with the pink hair coordinates her jacket with her hair.  You do you girl!

These are just a few of the encounters I have had downtown Portsmouth, but I will be sure to keep the collection going when the new semester begins and I wait for the bus.

Thanks for reading and tell me your thoughts in the comments!  Shine on!