Extra's.....lifes little moments

So i got an email yesterday, on things from the past an excerpt below
You were there when they first introduced MRT
here. You went for the first ride with your parents
and you would kneel on the seat to see the scenery.
Movie tickets used to cost only $3.50.
Gals are fascinated by Strawberry Short Cake and
Barbie Dolls.
You learn to laugh like The Count in Sesame
Street.
You longed to buy tibits called Kaka(20 cents
per pack) and Ding Dang(50 cents per box), that had
a toy in it and it changes every week not forgetting
the 15 cents animal crackers and the ring pop, where
the lollipop is the diamond on the ring.
Anyway this whole thing leads me to my morning bus ride to work, yes thats right bus ride. I decided to cheat the bus company out of 40cents today, actually i try and cheat them everyday but today the bus driver gave me a knowing smile and i thought to myself "HE KNOWS" anyway it was too late the 90cents was in the box there wasnt time to get another 40cents in there so i just shrugged and walked down towards the end of the bus, where to my horror stood a bus inspector!!! I dashed into the first empty seat and was about to use the only bus cheaters defensive mechanism, pretending to be fast asleep when i heard a voice, "how are you?" it was the inspector!!! and when i turned to see his face low and behold it was William..William the coffee shop man who used to run the coffee shop in front of church. I have known him since i was 16yrs old, that my friends was 16yrs ago! Not all of it was pleasent, he used to serve the worst coffee and often tried to overcharge us for drinks but it seems time heals all wounds. In the end we had a 20min chat (he never asked to see my ticket), his father passed away at the ripe old age of 87 he was a funny guy used to tell us he was a basketball player back in china.the old man was never the same after his wife died. We talked about the old stalls, the wan tan mee man..shangrilla western food where i spent most of my parents money, the seafood people (one of the guys who worked there looked like pol pot so we called him that, he would smile and laugh..but i bet he spat in our food!) He talked about how we would be there from friday night till sunday night drinking and eating our little lives away, i noticed that as he spoke he had a twinkle in his eye much like when he knew he was cheating us out of 10cents, i guess they were happy times for him too Lots of things have changed since then, i am at the same age that alot of the adults(who hung out at the coffeeshop) were when i was 16, it seems i hear kids calling me uncle alot more and the scary thing is i am arguing about it less and less. When i told him i was married and expecting my fisrt child Willaim.practically leapt out of his seat with congratulations.
Like the shop man under my mums block, or the provision shop dude across the road from my mums house or the neighbour that you pass along the way and say "hi hows your mother" too everyday, these people are like the extra's in the coffee shop in friends, they give the place charactor, they give the place atmosphere. Myabe our lives would be no better no worse for knowing them i dunno..but i suspect that as with everything extra's are always a good thing.