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small town in a big city

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Toronto has always had a certain anonymity to it, once you're away from certain niche populations.

It's easy to continue to run into the same people over and over once you've entered a certain industry or attended a University, etc. But what surprises me is seeing the same random individuals twice in a day in different contacts. That happened to me today when I noticed a fellow walking into a building near my office: I'd happened to notice the same guy (a forty-five-year-old Asian with a ponytail and a baseball cap) at 08:30 this morning while returning a car. He was at the wheel of the car next to mine at a light. Upon seeing him again this afternoon I thought, "Wha? Where have I seen him?" and for once it came to me.

This sort of thing happens in the beaches a fair bit, where I'll routinely see the same commuters either on the streetcar or in their cars or bikes. But that's more to be expected as it's a day-to-day matter rather than within a certain day, and is tied to habit rather than chance.

I wonder how many times I cross paths with random people more than once a day or more than once a week without knowing it.