Thawing

Personally, I've always been more of an autumn person. But I must say that Russia really has me warming up to the Spring (bah. No pun intended... or was it...?). It's not like I've never endured long, cold winters before. In fact I've endured longer and colder than this. But there's something amazing about how quickly the entire city thaws. And I mean ENTIRE city. The skies turn from grey to blue, the record snowfall disappears almost instantly, and the people, once shedding their furs, suddenly become more human. Or, shall we say, the shell hiding the surprise inside becomes a little thinner--more transparent. People's facial expressions change and vary in public and they look at each other and have animated conversations. Today I witnessed a chorus of laughter on the metro. Yes. Laughter. And I'm pretty sure it was relatively sober laughter. And people of all ages have started wearing all sorts of colors. I won't go into the hot pink velour track suit WITH bunny ears hanging off the hood.
The other day I got on a trolley and almost fell on a boy of about 12 as we lurched to begin. I managed to hold the bar, but he gave me a glare. Then I heard "Skyfall" playing. After it went on too long to be a ringtone I started rummaging through my purse, thinking that my ipod had started itself as it sometimes done. I found it, and it was off. Then I remembered I don't have "Skyfall" on my ipod. After a few moments of confusion I realized that this boy had it playing from his pocket. Unabashedly. Once it was over some sort of hiphoppy music that I can't tell you the name of but involves strange whistle sounds and reminded me of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" came on. The boy's stop came soon enough and he swaggered off with his tunes proudly playing. I sat down and another boy maybe a little younger came on and walked to the back. He was, I kid you not, playing with a yo-yo. And not just up and down but actually doing tricksy stuff. He seemed to think he was pretty cool. I felt like I was back in the 90s. Sometimes I can't help but just laugh to myself and think "Yes. You really DID just witness that. People."

I'm not sayin'. I'm just sayin'.