flâneur

Mimsy: The lost tradition of unannounced visits

hoboes.com · 1,528 words · saved by 1 readers

Once upon a time, if you were in the area of a friend, and you had extra time, you’d just drop in for a visit. You wouldn’t call first—phone calls were expensive. You wouldn’t text—there were no texts. You’d just show up. And you’d be even more likely to do this on holidays.

“Leave a note if you don’t find us…” Imagine this: you’re downtown shopping and think, it would be nice to drop in on cousin John. You don’t text John, or call him, you show up at John’s door unannounced because you happened to be in the area. What’s your reaction to this scenario? Fear? Horror? Longing? Embarrassment? It is a tradition long out of style: being in the area and just dropping in. It used to be common for people to drop in, unannounced, on friends and family. I’m not talking about just walking over to the neighbors to drop something off—and even that now often comes with a…

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