Life is choices. Choosing to act. Choosing not to act. Acts of commission or omission.
I wonder what possessed the woman in this story to choose to behave in such a startling way?
A mother writes:
I was sitting in a cafe with my daughter, when a lady came in and bought herself a drink. She took it to the outside seating area. We nodded at each other. She smiled at my daughter and then settling herself down with a newspaper.
A few moments later she took out her makeup bag and peered at her reflection.
Then she pulled out a disposable razor and began to dry shave her neck and chin.
It was all I could do not to fall off my chair.
My daughter has stored the experience away for the next time I tell her: “Don’t stare. It’s not polite.”
But I was helpless
Would you choose to shave in public? Would you choose to look on or look away or somehow manage not to look up at all? Does it make a difference whether you’re a man or a woman? For either question.
And which was she?
To find out what the other members of the Loose Bloggers Consortium came up with in response to the theme Choose (set by Grannymar) click on their links on the right hand side of the page under the LBC title.
Blackwatertown 
NO! There are plenty of other things I wouldn’t do in public either.
It made me think… when I was just a slip of a schoolgirl, we were told that it was very bad manners to be seen eating in the street! Eating sweets, chewing gum (horrendous) or even biting an apple while on the move were all frowned upon. It was lonnnnnng before the days of fast food and takeaways.
Yes – I remember that too.
I’m in full agreement with Grannymar — No Way Jose’!
I wouldn’t shave in public, can barely get it right in the bathroom. No electric razor either, so the shaving creme would add additional complications. If I witnessed someone doing this, I would think I was on Candid Camera, or some reality type show. Had to be a guy, i’m thinking, but…
Ah – there’d be blood everywhere.
Hadn’t thought of the whole shaving creme conundrum. Perhaps one could use the froth from one’s cappucino?
No!
I’m liking Sean’s candid camera idea … the alternative is so unlikely, but then, see other people? Odd.
Nope, I don’t think that I have ever seen a man or a woman shaving outside a cafe before. At least she didn’t use the drink to help her to wet shave…
And just think how wonderful she’d smell…
I wouldn’t be comfortable with a woman or man shaving in public, I guess because there’s an inappropriate sense of intimacy about it. Which is why on the other hand I’d have no problem with applying make-up or brushing hair or adjusting a bra strap. I know a woman who’s happy to remove or put on tights in public, which I also find a bit over-intimate.
But as Grannymar says, a few decades ago we would have objected to people eating in public, while now we think nothing of it.
I worry about people applying make-up in cars or on trains or buses. I anticipate the sudden lurch that’ll have them looking skew-wiff.
Shave yes; in public, no.
Gotta perserve some mystery, huh?
I certainly won’t shave in public. For that matter, I wouldn’t even brush my teeth in public, though that’s because I can be quite a messy brusher. I might floss. That’s odd the person decided to do that.
Sorry – just picturing you with a cup of water, brushing your teeth on the bus, gargling and spit…
No. But I would look around for a hidden camera. 🙂
Before my daughter got her drivers license she would change her outfit in the passenger seat of the car as I drove her between her job and social engagements. She did it without undoing her seat-belt or exposing too much of herself – I have no idea how as I was keeping my eyes on the road!
All I’ll say is that it was lucky for you both that it was you, her mother , driving her as she underwent her clothing contortions, because a more interested driver would have ended up in the ditch.