The hum of voices played on around us like a concerto. Often Italian, sometimes French or German, British or Irish accents fluttered by ears filled with the words on a typed page of paper. Newspapers opened, their pages gazed at and flipped over, set down to sip at a cappuccino or puff at a cigarette for five minutes or so. Figures passed in and out of the corner doorway, entering the amber atmosphere of old Italian murals and photographs of famed faces pasted in scrapbook fashion on the far right wall. People either in lively, engaged conversing, legs spread apart and bodies leaning forward, elbows touching the counters' edges, or not quite bored but slightly distracted faces looking out of the glass window through the reversed writing of the cafe's name painted in red letters outlined in black, slowly sipping from tall latte glasses or imported bottles of beer.
Life trickles sweetly on.
After working for one year in a very busy cafe in Lower Haight in San Francisco, I noticed a general difference in people's attitude and aptitude for social endeavors. Let's say a genuine friendliness and care for oneself and others in the community. People seem to look at you differently - or don't look at you, depending on how you look at it. Smiles instead of frowns or quick eye glance-aways. An interesting conversation with a complete stranger is not entirely unheard of, or necessarily met with a snub.