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People watching - my new hobby!

(34 Posts)
Sidelined Wed 16-Aug-23 19:09:46

That’s not really true, I’ve always loved finding a corner out of the way and watching the world go by. Do you?

I moved away from familiar haunts and it’s taken a long time to find my new favourite - a corner seat in the coffee shop of a Next store that lets me watch people coming in and out. I’m in heaven. Trouble is, I keep seeing women wearing some wonderful outfits (not all Next, I should add) and now I feel so dowdy! I feel a wardrobe update coming on! I wonder if I can that seat for next time 😂😂😂

timetogo2016 Tue 22-Aug-23 10:38:41

I too love people watching,where ever i am i watch,and Dh has become one too.

Jennajim Tue 22-Aug-23 10:23:29

Go onto u tube and search, Natasha Faterina, for street fashions, don't even have to go out

fancythat Sun 20-Aug-23 16:43:02

You are right!
From what I see, where I live, people care not a jot what they wear on the beach.
I suppose those that do care, dont go there?

I use people watching so that, if say I need a new bag, and it is 10 years since I bought a new one, I see what others are using. That type of thing.

Skyblue2 Sat 19-Aug-23 19:50:26

I enjoy people watching on holiday when I am at the hotel pool or the beach. It is sort of reassuring to note that most people are really not that attractive!! I admire the fact that some people will bare all and not care what others think.

lilydily9 Sat 19-Aug-23 16:31:53

I think that is the best part of enjoying a coffee alone... you can indulge yourself in people-watching.

Celieanne86 Sat 19-Aug-23 15:53:06

All I want to know is who decided bib and brace overalls are the fashion items to wear at the moment. I’ve seen all colours of the rainbow mums and girlies wearing the same but oh how I wish the larger ladies would take a look at their rear views before venturing out 🫣

Joseann Sat 19-Aug-23 15:28:44

So why do ladies over the Channel in Europe always look so smart and well turned out? I think we had a discussion here a few years back about people watching abroad, and agreed that the British women often looked like they were wearing sacks!

Bijou Sat 19-Aug-23 15:23:28

Until Covid stoppedl me from my weekly shopping trip to town where I would take a sandwich and sit on my scooter and people watch.
It is not a very rich area but I was surprised how poorly people were dressed. Elderly women in dark baggy trousers and anoraks. Do they look in the mirror at their attire? In summer pregnant women with cropped tops showing bare tummies and men with bare chests.

Sidelined Sat 19-Aug-23 15:06:07

Jb2022 and Pippa22, - before covid, when I was people watching in a Waitrose cafe on a regular basis, there was an older woman, very neat and trim, but tottering along on painfully high heeled shoes. I saw her most weeks and she never gave those darned heels up. It seemed to me that this was her one outing every week and she was going to be done up to the nines! She seemed overdressed for the supermarket to me but she was happy, particularly when someone stopped her to compliment her dress - she truly beamed with pleasure!

This week I couldn't help but think how times have changed here in the UK. When I was a kid you had to be clean, tidy, nothing tatty or torn, no beachwear, no sports wear, nothing that showed more skin than was the norm and certainly no showing of underwear however pretty it was. Now anything goes. Men wear shorts (and sometimes flip flops) in the winter, I've seen young women in their dressing gowns and pyjamas in the supermarket (!!!!) and I've seen some huge women (and I'm a 22 so when I say huge I mean huge) wearing tiny tops and shorts. Some of it I think is just plain wrong but I have to say that I also think I wish I had just some of the confidence to wear what I'd like to wear (not shorts, I promise you) that the body-positive women have right now. Good for them. You really do have to be comfortable in your own skin and my feet love my various pairs of trainers, I hope it shows on my face. You really can learn a lot by watching people, can't you.

EEJit Sat 19-Aug-23 14:26:17

We don't do much people watching in the UK, but, when we go to our favourite village in Turkey, we always take at least one ferry trip to Marmaris, sit in the same cafe each time and just watch the world go by.

Pippa22 Sat 19-Aug-23 13:42:01

Sidelined, perhaps you need to dress up to go people watching !
I love watching folk too and often wonder where they are going to, how lovely some look and occasionally wonder if there is a mirror in their house !

Jb2022 Sat 19-Aug-23 13:24:12

Love people watching. Usually get my husband to park in front of the entrance to a large shopping centre. While he does the shopping I sit in the car and watch. One change I can’t get over is the amount of people of all ages and genders wearing runners. I believe they call them trainers or converse or something. We called them tennis shoes or runners and wouldn’t be seen dead in them going shopping.

Poppyred Sat 19-Aug-23 13:09:07

I love people watching too. Some (most) of the sights I see are ghastly! Hope it doesn’t show on my face! 🥱

Every now and then I see a woman in the most gorgeous outfit and have to be cheeky and ask where she bought it from. ☺️

Cagsy Sat 19-Aug-23 12:58:07

Inishowen that would probably be my husband, from about April to October it’s shorts almost whatever the weather, although he did wear trousers when we went out the other evening. The DGC say ‘Grandad’s got his legs out’ 😂

inishowen Sat 19-Aug-23 12:30:27

We went to the theatre this week. We were seated early and I loved watched everyone come in. I admired some who'd dressed up and secretly condemned the man who came in shorts!

Nannashirlz Sat 19-Aug-23 12:22:06

I used to be a manager of a shop with full windows so you saw everyone but they couldn’t see you and I started to do it then and I’ve done it every since no matter where I go. Ppl do some strange things without realising that they are doing it lol

biglouis Sat 19-Aug-23 12:17:56

Ive always been a great people watcher and find it far more interesting than staring at a phone! Im not bothered by or judgemental of what others wear - I expect that comes with age. I now dress for comfort and dont give a damn about the opinions of random people.

I dont go out into the city now but I used to spend many happy hours sitting in public places watching people. Last time I did so a street begger began to approach me so I was determined not to be a captive audience. I held up my hand in a barring motion and mouthed NO quite sternly.

People watching at pavement cafes in France and Italy is part of the fun of being alone on holiday. If Id gone with a companion they would probably have got bored.

Scottiebear Sat 19-Aug-23 12:04:34

Love people watching. Italians have it down to a fine art. And they do nothing to hide it. Been to couple of areas in Italy where you either sit and watch or walk and be watched. Fabulous. 😁

Judy54 Thu 17-Aug-23 16:32:27

Oh yes I do agree people watching is a great hobby. Although I wonder what conclusion the people watching me come to!

BigBertha1 Thu 17-Aug-23 09:51:30

I love a nice people watch and if my sister is with me we make up all sorts of stories about the people that come and go. Moving house soon back to a town with lots of cafes I intend to spend lots of time there with or without a book and just sit in the window.

Sidelined Thu 17-Aug-23 09:21:47

I wish I could agree glammanana - yesterday the men let the side down! Scruffy didn’t really describe it for a few. And why would a grown up dad dress like a seven year old? Did see one or two very well turned out older men but they were the rare ones. Come on men, dress up for your partner!

glammanana Thu 17-Aug-23 09:16:38

I just love people watching my favourite place is a table outside Costa Coffee in Liverpool 1 so many lovely ladies in Liverpool all wearing stunning outfits I could sit there all day long, the men turn themselves out well also .

sassysaysso Thu 17-Aug-23 07:15:31

Great Court at the British
Museum is excellent for people watching. I should add though there is a guy who lives near me who spends loads of time people watching from his first floor flat. Though harmless, it is becoming a little bit creepy.

hollysteers Wed 16-Aug-23 22:39:49

Greetings to a fellow flaneur! (Although I’m not covering the distances I used to in my bid for new sights…)

I have a favourite corner in a coffee shop right up against a mirrored wall so I can watch others without them realising, my book or phone in hand.
I caught a man staring at me though, thinking he couldn’t be seen and that is not the object of the exercise.

It can be preferable to being in company, just observing the world go by.

crazyH Wed 16-Aug-23 22:23:26

Me too , my vantage spot is not as exotic as Monte Carlo, but a bench at the local shopping mall. You’ll be surprised !!!