I derive very happy jolts from glimpsing someone in the middle of a moment. An unawares moment.
Some examples: A bike courier singing as he rides through traffic; the woman in the pencil skirt who does a little excited skip to herself as she walks down the street; the power walker at the beach who has to tap the end of the promenade three times before turning around and heading back.
Then there are the more subtle moments. The flickers in the eyes. Glimpsing a thought flicker across a stranger’s face, like a floater across your eye. Apparently there’s a word for this:
Fata organa n. a flash of real emotion glimpsed in someone sitting across the room…
…idly locked in the middle of some group conversation, their eyes glinting with vulnerability or quiet anticipation or cosmic boredom.
I experienced this the other day. I was staring at a table of old ladies opposite me in a café. One of them had tuned out from the chatter. You could tell. And then a mischievous look came over her face and she looked like she was 15, not 70 or so. And I