Walking in SoHo the other day, which I've done countless times since I moved here, I noticed in a store window a row of human skulls. Naturally I stopped to take a closer look.
The Evolution Store bills itself as an arts and science store. They sell replicas of human skulls, fossilized bugs and shark teeth, insects mounted in frames, and all sorts of natural wonders.
While that in itself is interesting, what struck me more was that in all my walks through SoHo I never noticed it before. How does one walk by a store with human skulls in the window over and over again and never notice it? It is even right next door to a spa whose interior I've taken notice of several times (it is covered in a weave of wooden planks). But I never noticed the skulls.
I used to think I was very observant. I'd notice if something changed. Things out of the ordinary would catch my eye. But walking through the city I was able to miss a store window full of human skulls.
Going for a walk in the city is one of my favourite things to do. While living in Vancouver and then Seattle it was no different. Many Sundays would start with a trip to a decent magazine store, then brunch, and finally a tour of my favourite stores. Neither Vancouver nor Seattle are very large and neither do they change very much. Consequently these tours would rarely reveal new points of interest. So that's one theory, because nothing ever changed, I stopped looking for change.
Another theory, equally plausible, is that New York changes too fast. There is only so much you can take in and absorb.
Whichever it is, I love that New York still surprises me.
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