Street connections

Another German-accented person from Wisconsin in the elevator this evening! He moved from Germany to Madison in 1980, and yes, upon entering the elevator he did not push a button for his floor. *See a previous post. I was going to tell him, but he just kept talking.

Ok, that is not the reason why I love Waikiki. I love it because I run into friends all the time on the streets and sidewalks. I can't count the number of times I have turned a corner and bumped into a friend, or seen one walking/running, or had my name called out while passing a friend. You almost start to expect it to happen at least once a week.

Saturday, I hear a friend scream my name from a car. We were both stopped at a light, got a quick chat in and then raced a bit down Kalakaua, which ended in a friendly wave as I turned off. Just the week prior I randomly ran into these friends while walking down on a dark street on a weeknight. No it wasn't a drug deal. But I think a few passerbys might have thought I was on something as I charged across the street - wearing my turquoise and brown cowboy boots - to grab some quick hugs, high-fives and laughs.

Today, while waiting ever so patiently at a red light, a car blares on the horn beside me. I turn around (not many cars honk horns here in Hawaii, so when you hear one; you look). It's another pair of friends. It was the best light to get trapped at, as it's horrendously long, so we had enough time to catch up and make plans for the coming days. 

There's nothing quite like getting an unexpected hug, wave or smile on a street corner from a friend you weren't expecting to see. It just makes the whole day better.

Waikiki may be a heavily-populated section of land with a constant flow of tourists, but it still feels like a small-town community sometimes. A family of like-minded people. You start recognize all the friendly bartenders and servers waiting at the bus stops or see old dates while getting movies (and avert your face). I've often been accused of stalking friends who come in from other parts of the island just because they always see me out walking (not street walking just walking) or in restaurants.

So while the rest of the island may shun us Waikiki-dwellers, at least until they want to be entertained, I couldn't imagine having this much fun or a sense of neighborhood anywhere else on this chunk of land.