Thread: Help!

Someone suggested I could obtain ideas for stories by listening to what people talk about amongst themselves.

So earlier today I went down the supermarket, grabbed a packet of instant soup – 89c this week - and took my place in the checkout queue. There were these two old women gossiping in line ahead of me. I pulled out my newly-acquired notebook and pencil, and tilted one ear forward.

“‘Ere! What’re you up to?” cried one of the pair. “Look out, Elsie, there’s one a them preverts they keep warning us about, right behind you!”

Elsie turned, took one look, and began thwacking me with her handbag.

Okay, I made it up. But it could’ve been true. So where do YOU go, to eavesdrop?

LOL! Great story.

I've caught myself eavesdropping a few times at the local bookstore. I once heard a couple talking about what they liked in books (true story) and I walked over to the next aisle and pretended to be perusing while I listened out of interest.

"I like books that are good, you know?"

"Yeah, me too. Like, when you read it you think, 'Wow! This is really good!'"

"Exactly."

"I don't like those other books where you read it and you get bored."

"Me either. We totally have the same taste in literature."

"I know, right?"

And then there was a thumping sound, that of my head against the shelf. This was at Barnes and Noble.

So, that eavesdropping experiment was a failure. I haven't tried it again since.

But, I do find group conversations to have lots of juicy tidbits (funny expressions, strange insights). Pool halls, bowling alleys, coffee shops..

Apparently the guy who wrote 'Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion' based it on a conversation he overheard between two women about their hair. I think it must have had a lot in common with the one you overheard, Kyle.

I think the eavesdropping thing only works if you're eavesdropping on the right people.

Too often people just speak in brain-farts when they're in public, as a way of seeming social without actually having to say anything important or share anything meaningful.

Originally Posted by BabaYaga

I think the eavesdropping thing only works if you're eavesdropping on the right people.

Of course! I recollect sharing a lift, or elevator, with two lawyers in 1978, and although I have now totally forgotten their conversation I do remember thinking at the time how interesting it was.

I don't need to listen to the conversations of others, I simply chat to my wife about her family. Her parents, brothers and sisters, and their collective offspring; the sum of their parts equal just about the most dysfunctional family I have ever had the misfortune to know. Jeremy Kyle material every last one of them. Only yesterday one of her sisters was in court as her ex-boyfriend was charged with assaulting her. Found guilty with sentencing deferred. His defence was it was a rough sex game that got a bit out of hand.

"Still," I said to the wife, "it gives them something to talk about."

I don't understand how my wife is related to them. I think she was swapped at birth. I love her to bits but I cringe at the thought of spending time with them.

Ride the bus. Seriously, you want to hear what's going on, you want stories to tell, you should ride the bus.

I've given that advice to numerous people in government, including all three prime ministers who have served Belize - remember bull and cow - since I've been here. I tell them, 'you're out of touch', something that, almost always, can be said to any minister of government without fear of contradiction, 'so leave your driver and vehicle behind tomorrow and ride across the country on a bus'. And I tell them not to take the express. Ride the regular bus that stops in every village for people to get on and off. And ride in the back. There's a social divide most of the time with the ones who don't want to commit fully to the idea that they need to ride the bus sticking together at the front. The interesting conversations are in the back third of the bus, though sensitive ears may at times be offended by some of those conversations.

The same principle applies to picking up story ideas. Bouncing around in the back of a retired Blue Bird school bus now in its second incarnation as a National Transport regular bus traveling the Western Highway is not conducive to note-taking with pad and pencil, so I carry a voice recorder. It's about the size and shape of a cell phone and I can whisper my notes into it without drawing attention.

Originally Posted by KyleColorado

I once heard a couple talking about what they liked in books (true story) and I walked over to the next aisle and pretended to be perusing while I listened out of interest.
"I like books that are good, you know?"
"Yeah, me too. Like, when you read it you think, 'Wow! This is really good!'"
"Exactly."
"I don't like those other books where you read it and you get bored."
"Me either. We totally have the same taste in literature."
"I know, right?"
And then there was a thumping sound, that of my head against the shelf. This was at Barnes and Noble.
So, that eavesdropping experiment was a failure. I haven't tried it again since.

I think you got off lightly. But then again, it could just be me living in an area where thongs are considered formal footwear.

garza - Just occasionally, since moving to the bush in ’98, I had caught a bus – I can’t bring myself to say ‘ridden a bus’ as it sounds like a carnival attraction – carnival attraction, he says, what’s the Portuguese for ooh la la – all those lithe and lissom ladies – where was I? – caught a bus, down to the big smoke, and back. There must be something in the Belizean air that transmits sound waves more efficiently, as all I ever heard in that bus was, “rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb.”

Their buses are probably (if they're like central Asia) much different to ours. And I'd take a guess that Belize bus riders aren't 95% full of people with IQ<80.

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

all I ever heard in that bus was, “rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb.”

Be thankful you got that much sense.


More generally, I don't think there's anywhere in countries like Australia where you can get in touch with the populous, for we're too segmented into separate groups to gain any accurate insight.

Eavesdropping is OK but, nine times out of ten, you end up with an experience like Kyle's. I prefer to just observe. Many people can manage to provide you with a story just by choosing something from their closet.

Once I was in Mexico having lunch at the hotel. A local guy came in with his whole extended family. His shirt and pants were the color of boiled corn--kind of a bright yellow-gold. Even his boots were yellow. He had his best cream-colored hat on with a bright neckerchief. He was incredibly self-conscious of his appearance; in a 'This is my big day' sort of way. I wrote about him in detail in my journal. Fascinating guy.

Another day I was in a bar in Chicago. Two very inebriated locals were anchoring the end of the bar. Their antics were pure gold. Keep your eyes open and half your stroies could write themselves!

Most of the buses in Belize are retired Blue Bird school buses from the U.S. They are rugged and dependable, though perhaps not as comfortable as the big highway buses used in the U.S. A retired school bus will run for years down here. A retired Greyhound may last one year. Think about it. There's a reason for that. A few years ago Novello's Bus Service imported some very fancy, expensive, state of the art buses from a Famous Automaker in Europe. After about six months on Belizean roads they started falling apart. You can see them sitting in the back corner of a bus graveyard on the Western Highway

Most of the passengers are people who cannot afford a vehicle of their own. I'm part of a small minority of people who choose to travel by bus when there is no economic necessity to do so. I sometimes ride to Belize City, have lunch at my favourite Kriol restaurant, and ride back to Corozal. And while I do eavesdrop, it's just as often I get involved in a conversation. Often someone who recognises me will ask my opinion about something, usually about politics, and I have to be careful. At present there is a good way to sidetrack a political question. I say, 'Let me ask you something. Do you think the Prime Minister will call early elections?' If there are people around me from both major parties this ignites a hot discussion and I can sit back and listen. There are always some comments that would liven up a story that included politicians.

The most fun part is listening to village gossip. If two or three people from a village get on and don't recognise me, all they see is 'Just Another Gringo in Belize' and assume I don't understand Kriol. Many times I've learned who is doing what to whom. Some good story material there. The express buses don't stop in the villages, which is one reason I don't ride them. Also, the express buses are the more 'elite' buses, costing a dollar or two more. A certain level of sophistication is expected of the express bus passenger.