Poetry in Motion: Waiting alone

Waiting Alone
Please wait a moment.
What are you waiting for?
Wait till you get a load of this. Just wait here.
Wait a sec. Wait a God-damn-minute!
You just wait. Wait Wait... Don't tell me!
Wait for it. Waaaaaaiit for it.

Waiter!

Can you wait for me?
Waiting...

I caaan't wait!

What is it about waiting that sucks? Part of the odd jobs I've been tasked with in Venezia is couriering guests from one part of town to another. A large part of it is waiting for people who've specified a vague and possibly arbitrary arrival time.

Today I waited for 5 hours. They never showed up. Not complaining, in fact on paper it reads well.
1) Scenic waiting area at the Scalzi Bridge near the main station
2) Sabato during Carnevale means New Years Eve level traffic. Lots of people to watch
3) The parade of outrageous costumes from Alice in Wonderland to Mario and Luigi. Its essentially 2 weeks of Halloween and EVERYONE is in the spirit
4) The sea of humanity meant it would have been a slow crawl to spend the day walking around the city
5) The waiting meant I got to avoid hard labour for the day
6) Its usually couriering packs of girls
7) Twas a beautiful day in a beautiful city

Despite all that, there is something about waiting that is unbearable. I can't quite put a finger on it. It has something to do with only moving in the one axis - time. Also when you're waiting, its usually for a relief of some sort. Most times in the form of company.

Funnily enough, the people I watched weren't do anything radically different to what I was doing. Albeit they were lost in conversation and lost in a foreign city. For most its simply walking around, people watching. In the case of those spectacularly dressed, being watched. Point A and point B are negligible, just being on a journey counts for a lot.

I make sure I get out of the house every night. In Venezia its usually been alone, its essentially "walkin around waitin for shit to pop". In basketball terms, its the equivalent of running around trying to get good position. Whether you receive an assist, get an open look or score that's another matter. Ultimately for best results you want to be able to create your own shot.

Maybe this why I don't like waiting...

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.
Henry David Thoreau

As you get older, you'd think there'd be an urgency as you have less time you can afford to spend waiting. But something tells me that with maturity comes peace. You just learn to cherish time and are more assured on what time is worth being spent on. With that said, I purposely omitted one common 'wait' phrase that I hope one day truly resonates with me - "some things in life are just worth waiting for".