This blog post doesn’t have to do with photography but I will place a few pictures I have been working on lately but I wanted to write something that I have been pondering lately.

I work as a dispatcher/office clerk during the day. Some days it gets to be very busy, so much so that the day flies by before I know it. Some days are slow. My main job is to be at the ready to answer the phone. Secondary work is do some accounting, put stats together, and any other office items my boss and/or I can think up. I like to be kept busy but just some days there is nothing much to do but just answer the phone. On days like that the silence is deafening and every little sound the building or the people in the building make I can hear loud and clear. One of the sounds are the sound of footsteps. I can distinguish most of the different footsteps that are coming towards my office door. There is the swagger of the soft foot manager, the squeak of the driver’s shoe, the gait of the maintenance man, etc.

I hear footsteps on the floor above me as well and as of yet I haven’t met the owners of those steps. There is one that stands out amongst the others and it is a lady’s footstep. It sounds like it is made from a high heel. She walks with purpose and has a quick stride. She clomps down hard on those heels and my ear hears every step she makes. Her foot step says a lot about her I feel. I would think she is a boss or a boss’ secretary. She has much authority and wants to let everyone know she is in the building. I imagine that if she didn’t have authority about her then she would have a different stride.

Have you ever noticed the stride and gait of people around you? Does it match the personality of the person(s)? Or maybe you live in an apartment and the person above has a loud walk because he/she knows you are underneath and want you to remember they are ‘above’ you.

I also known some people who can walk very quietly and can come up upon you without nary a sound and scare the bejeebers out of you unintentionally. This happened years ago where my neighbour friend asked her son to ask me for something which I forget now what it was. Because our door bell was broken at the time he came in the house down to my office where I was on my computer. I sold educational toys at the time and he proceeded to get distracted with them instead of doing the task in which to ask me. He was so quiet I didn’t see him come in the room nor did I hear him playing with the toys. So when I got up to go out of the room I saw him and I scream and jumped 10 feet high. To this day we can’t stop laughing about this.

Do you have a foot step story? I would love to know it. Please leave your comments in the comments box below. I would like to hear your thoughts on this subject. Have you had your wits scared out of you? Have you been annoyed by an unthoughtful upper floor neighbour? Or maybe you have a strong fast stride and yet you are soft spoken and very quiet otherwise.

I leave you with the song by Matthew Wilder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28KobNbbI2s