I was riding the bus the other day, and a woman got on and sat in a perpendicular seat in front of me. She wore plain mary-janes, thick wool stockings, a conservative plaid skirt, and had her hair in a slightly ornamented pony-tail. I assume that she was in her late twenties, but her demeanour was almost child-like. She sat for a while, staring at nothing, carrying a perpetually innocent, apologetic expression on her face, as if she had a tiring day and was penitent to those around her for being in such an exhausted state.

Sticking out of her bag was a simple, white, letter-sized booklet with the heading “DEMOCRACY IN ACTION PROGRAM”, and I thought it was odd that a parliamentary event being held in the capital of Canada would use the American spelling of the word “programme”.

Soon, she pulled out a set of plastic, bulky Sony headphones (the ones with the oversized foam that actually come with a music device), and searched her bag for the tape player attached at the end of the cord. Now, I admit that I’m already generally attracted to older, homely looking women, but it was the fact that she had such a pure look of simple bliss on her face when she put on the headphones, as if she was waiting all day to listen to her music, that I found most attractive.