An Afternoon

I looked at the sky. It was blue and clear. There were a group of white birds flying together, to find a comfortable place to spend their night perhaps. I did not know the truth why they liked to travel back and forth. But it was really fascinating to see their togetherness and harmony. Could human be the same? I wondered. I looked to the right. There were plenty of people walking back and forth from the shopping arcades nearby. My eyes caught up on the incidence that just happened. A young lady just bumped onto a middle age man. He was angry and tried to force the girl to pay for the damage she had caused to his broken spectacles. The girl was still in a school uniform. It was still school time; I wondered what she was doing there especially at this time of the day. Nonetheless, with that in mind I could predict what would happen next. Yes, it was just as predicted; the man threatened the girl to report her to the school if she refused to pay the compensation. She looked scared and tried to apologise but the man was stubborn. It was an eyesore yet signified human civilisation. Could not the man just forgive the girl? Could not they end it in harmony? I did not want to look at it anymore, and tried to focus on the meal in front of me. But I did not have any appetite after seeing that uncivilised action. I was thinking to wait for my colleague to come and finish the lunch together. While waiting for Fara to come, I took out my camera from my green leather sling bag to snap some pictures of the human behaviours and attitudes. After taking a few shots, I put the camera aside and looked at the time. It was 1.30 pm. “30 minutes late”, I mumbled to myself. Huh! I sighed. I missed the old time spent in England. The people there extremely concern about time. I remembered one day when I had a group meeting. There were 5 people in my group, 3 of us including me came on time and started discussing the assignment given. After 10 minutes, the discussion was finished. Then the other 2 guys came. One of my group-mates then said, “We have finished”. One of the guys who just came in replied, “We are late for just 10 minutes”. “Well, we had been discussing for 10 minutes”, he answered. Judging from that situation, I learnt the importance of punctuality. 40 minutes passed, and there she was, rushing into the restaurant and gasping for the air. “Wow, your punctuality is very incredible! I am impressed”, I commented cynically. “I am so sorry Atie, I know you are very particular about time, but my car just gone wild”, Fara was apologising. “What do you mean?” “You know that I m not used to the right hand side driving, I took the opposite side of the road, and all the drivers out there were beyond mad at me!” she explained. Fara studied in France for almost 10 years, so I could understand perfectly why she was not used to the right handed driving as France used left hand side. “Haha, it is you who has gone wild not your car! Hilarious! Anyway, are you alright?”. “Yeah, I am alright. Thank you”. “Yes, apology is accepted. Let’s get started”, I smiled and we started discussing our work.