First of all, I am in raptures over Sammartini's Sinfonia in F Major, No. 32. It's beautiful. The first and second violins playing that C after the sort of foreboding intro measures is wonderful!
Second of all, I have a story to tell. I just remembered it as I was stuffing envelopes at work and it made me laugh, but it actually happened this summer.
I had gone to Borders to read for a few hours in the morning, and I left without washing my hair or anything like that. I was very un-made-up. So to cover that up, I wore my long white skirt from Jerusalem, hoping nobody would notice that the rest of me didn't go well with it. After reading for a while in an armchair in the cafe, I wandered over to the fashion magazines to pick out a haircut for myself. I pulled four or five magazines off the shelf and sat on the floor there, obstructing everyone else's view of the fashion section. Fortunately, there was just one lady looking at the cooking magazines and one old man several feet away from me, just perusing.
In a few moments the lady left, and the old man- he had to be eighty, and looked very proper- started to leave as well. He stopped in front of me, looking serious.
I probably paled, thinking he was an employee about to tell me I was being rude and couldn't just read Vogue without buying it.
He said, "Young lady, I'm a very old man, so I say what I'm thinking, and I must say something to you."
I paled even more, certain now that he was about to lecture me on sitting with my legs crossed in a skirt. No matter that they were covered to the ankle; it just isn't done, I pictured him saying. He was still very serious. But I waited.
"A young lady like you-" uh-oh, he was definitely going to give me the lecture!- "A young lady like you should not be sitting here in public alone. Someone so beautiful should be surrounded by at least five adoring young men, all flirting with you."
I sighed with relief and gigled nervously. At the same time. I didn't sound very ladylike then. But he smiled reassuringly, and I thanked him, blushing now.
"Thank you, that's very sweet," I said, smiling back.
With that, he nodded his white head and ambled out, leaving me cross-legged on the floor, with my ankles peeking out from under my Israeli skirt.