I would like to ask all those pedestrians walking around downtown, what do they do, why are they there in the mid morning hours of a working tuesday.
I always wondered why are shops open during standard working hours. If most people are working, they will not go shopping, so that there is no point to keep the shops open. Let's better say, it is less worth to keep the shops open when people usually work, than when they usually don't: late afternoons or weekends. But today I was going to the doctor, so I was around town when I am normally not. And I was astonished to see a lot of people walking around.
I sat on a bench and start mumbling and observing them, trying to guess from their clothes, behavior and shopping interestes, who they might be. I mumbled about which social categories would have free time on Tuesday, 11 am. I thought about people in maternity or paternity leave; people who are retired, or housewives; people who for some reason are going to the doctor, and people who are on holidays, like tourists; and then university students, maybe, and self-employed, possibly. I thought about writers who might like to give form to their new masterpieces sitting in a bar in the sun, or journalists who are taking the tram to go to the next interviewed. Then it came to my mind that people working in a fab might work at night or on weekends, and have free a Tuesday morning. The same for doctors, nurses, drivers of public transport. But, all these are actually very few of all possible jobs you can think of. Not enough to fill the town.
It was easy to recognize tourists: sometimes in little groups, with confortable shoes and a little rucksack, and often a camera in the hand. That was probably a quarter of all the people I met. Amazingly enough, another quarter was represented by people with a bandage on their hand, or hopping around with one or two crutches. Then I saw a lot of mum with little babies or pregnant women, which sum up to the total with the older people, clearly belonging to the category of retired, with a couple getting married, and with a couple of elegant ladies in suit and high hills running from one bank to the other.
That's it. That's who is in town during working hours. That's for whom most shops are open, as in many German towns there is still the rule that most shops close at 6pm during the week, at midday on Saturday, and are closed on Sunday. So that I always wondered, why there are so many closed shops in town.
I saw today many shops open for the first time. It was a revelation.
But I wonder, how can this economically work? How can the little shops survive, who are always closed when most people have off? Because anyone who would have a standard job, where you are in an office from 9am to 5pm, well, will never go in.
I always wondered why are shops open during standard working hours. If most people are working, they will not go shopping, so that there is no point to keep the shops open. Let's better say, it is less worth to keep the shops open when people usually work, than when they usually don't: late afternoons or weekends. But today I was going to the doctor, so I was around town when I am normally not. And I was astonished to see a lot of people walking around.
I sat on a bench and start mumbling and observing them, trying to guess from their clothes, behavior and shopping interestes, who they might be. I mumbled about which social categories would have free time on Tuesday, 11 am. I thought about people in maternity or paternity leave; people who are retired, or housewives; people who for some reason are going to the doctor, and people who are on holidays, like tourists; and then university students, maybe, and self-employed, possibly. I thought about writers who might like to give form to their new masterpieces sitting in a bar in the sun, or journalists who are taking the tram to go to the next interviewed. Then it came to my mind that people working in a fab might work at night or on weekends, and have free a Tuesday morning. The same for doctors, nurses, drivers of public transport. But, all these are actually very few of all possible jobs you can think of. Not enough to fill the town.
It was easy to recognize tourists: sometimes in little groups, with confortable shoes and a little rucksack, and often a camera in the hand. That was probably a quarter of all the people I met. Amazingly enough, another quarter was represented by people with a bandage on their hand, or hopping around with one or two crutches. Then I saw a lot of mum with little babies or pregnant women, which sum up to the total with the older people, clearly belonging to the category of retired, with a couple getting married, and with a couple of elegant ladies in suit and high hills running from one bank to the other.
That's it. That's who is in town during working hours. That's for whom most shops are open, as in many German towns there is still the rule that most shops close at 6pm during the week, at midday on Saturday, and are closed on Sunday. So that I always wondered, why there are so many closed shops in town.
I saw today many shops open for the first time. It was a revelation.
But I wonder, how can this economically work? How can the little shops survive, who are always closed when most people have off? Because anyone who would have a standard job, where you are in an office from 9am to 5pm, well, will never go in.
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