Random Observation on a Trip to Ogunquit

Met a guy on a bench in Ogunquit from the Bronx. I mentioned I had lived in upstate New York in a town called Liberty, and he said "Oh, the Borsch Belt." First of all, people in Maine usually have not heard of Liberty! No one has usually heard of Liberty. Secondly, I was secretly delighted as I felt he was probably Jewish if that was his reference point. I considered how being from the Bronx, running into Jewish people was probably second nature enough to him that it wouldn't matter, but somehow, to me, it did.

Then he complained about the two girls "taking up the best benches, and they're so angry" and I marveled at how different perceptions of the world could be. For I had passed those girls, and my only thought had been that I wanted to stay and listen a while longer. The woman's words and language was so passionate and so emotional, that I felt myself instantly relating to her emotion even when I couldn't get most of the words. I felt myself drawn to her. Later on, I actually did end up sitting on that bench across from them for some time, and let myself just soak up the emotion in her voice. It felt familiar, it felt like home, it felt so good as it washed over me. Some discussion about people that annoyed them, I don't know, but the passion was wonderful. To me it wasn't anger - to him it had probably seemed like it. It was emotional intensity, but not anger.

There was a guy playing the guitar, the Tremeloes Here Comes my Baby, "Everyone's Talking at Me," and a couple other 60s songs. This guy saw me singing along and asked me who had done the song that the guy was singing. "I'm using this app on my phone to figure out who sings it," he says, "but it's not working." (The app someone on here told me about, I forget the name). I quietly marveled how in this world of new technology at least people still have some use, laughed to myself, and went on.

Traffic in Ogunquit was ridiculous trying to get out of it. It was standstill traffic for miles on Route 1 or to Route 1, so we took the interstate. People, including us, should probably be aware there are other places to go on the Maine coast besides just Ogunquit.