A little bit less conversation a little more characterisation

I had forgotten just how many unusual characters walk through the doors of a cafe/ restaurant every day.

Back in the day when I was juggling waitressing, study and voluntary work at the local daily newspaper I would come across the most intricate characters, story ideas and unusual situations every day.

Enough to fill my weekly story list so I could pitch to the chief of staff with the confidence of a fully fledged journalist instead of a copywriter dreaming of one day owning her own desk and direct line.

Now I'm off deadline and on a personal deadline of 'must write this book' I've got a new appreciation for the characters that walk through the door.

For some reason, Gympie attracts characters. I don't mean this in a bad way, merely that it has a forgiving folk who indulge the odd eccentricity with good humour. Eccentricities which in a city would see an individual set as outcasts and as odd. Up here it's more or less welcomed, the more different you are, the better.

So it's no wonder I'm inundated with amusing characters throughout the day.

Enough to fill a book or at least stir curiosity as to the back story to their personality and their lives.

There's the girl who comes in and counts all our sweets in the display cabinet as well as the drinks in the fridges. She then orders a cup of hot water to drink while she sits and reads the paper.


There's the elderly couple in their 80's who come for a cheap lunch just to see me. His wife shares the same name as me and he always wants to know what my 'word' for the day is. He believes a word can sum up your day and as I'm a writer, is always keen to know what mine is. He still pulls out a chair for his wife before she sits, he stands whenever she goes to leave the table and tells me he fell in love with her at first sight at a local dance when they were both 15.

There's the man who comes in to dine alone. Only unlike other solo diners who spend their time perilously glued to their iPhone, laptop or books, he instead pauses with every forkful of food to look at it for a good 30 seconds before putting it in his mouth and swallowing it. After three weeks of him following the same routine I asked why he did it. He said - because years and years ago he'd been a prisoner of war and the most food he was ever given was rice and rotten meat. He swore to himself he'd never take another mouthful of food for granted again.

There's woman in her 30's with a nervous eye and arm twitch who spills coffee on herself and table every time she comes in. But her smile is so endearing that it begs for her not to be judged and also seems to promise that maybe next time she might just manage to drink it without spilling.

And then of course there's always the little things. A look, tone, a turn of phrase or even the way someone brushes the hair out of their eyes that can catch my attention.

I've always been a hopeless people watcher but now as I trek knee deep through what makes up the characters for my book, I can't help but notice everything.

I find myself stopping and writing down a word, a phrase or description mid- shift because I can't leave it rattling around in my head.

Suddenly there seems to be so much more to everything around me that I never noticed before. Has it always been here begging to be noticed and written about or is it just my overactive imagination taking charge?

I suppose only time will tell, until then the writing goes on...

X
J