Missing: Stranger

It's strange how I miss people that I don't know and have never even spoken to.  When I first started working here, in the winter, there was a girl I would often pass.  She walked in the opposite direction to me as I made my way down the street my office building is on.  I always noticed her because she wore a brown parka with a hood that had "fur" around it.  Mostly she wore the hood up, making her look (to me at least) like an Eskimo.  Seeing her most mornings made me feel less alone in my daily trudge to work, even though we never shared more than a sly glance of recognition, ocassioanlly a half-smile.  Inside though, I'd always be smiling when I spied her coming towards me.

I've not seen her since the start of spring, and it's odd how I miss this total stranger.  Maybe it's simply that she no-longer wears her brown eskimo-coat and so I no-longer recognise her; perhaps she melted away in the spring; possibly she went home to the North Pole; probably she found a better job in some other part of London.

There's an old man that I often pass on my way into work.  He sits drinking cans of cheep beer at 9:15 in the morning.  At first I though he was a tramp, then I noticed he seems to change his clothes far to often to be homeless.  He's always dressed almost-smartly, as if he had a really great wardrobe 10 years ago but has bought nothing new since.  I try my best to appear not to notice him, though I would miss him if he dissapeard one day.

Walking to the station most mornings I pass a young blonde girl.  I think she works at one of the dentists I pass.  We share a similar glance of recognition as I did with the Eskimo girl, and the location at which I first see her suggests how early or late I'm running that morning.  Another stranger I share nothing but brief spacial proximity with but that I've grown accustomed to and would miss should I never see again. 

Would I want to see these people in different surroundings though?  I think that may be as disturbing as not seeing them where I expect to.  If you know what I mean?