People Watching

Up in my eyrie on the 26th floor, I have become an expert people watcher. The people's faces are indistinct so I don't feel like a voyeur and can endlessly watch the kids come out to play basketball - sometimes at 6:30 in the morning-watch the workers on the skyscraper going up, watch the laundry being hung out, watch families getting into a small boat to access the other side, watch the busy walkers going to important places and the dog walkers strolling along in the mall.
I can watch those sitting on the wall by the river watching others and the children jumping up and over the wall, but lately I have been fascinated by the kids going swimming on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Is it because the rains have been flooding the river and the water is fresher? Is the level of water lower after the floods? Why is this the season to go swimming?
Some of the kids scoot to the edge of the riverbank and jump in and some of them take a running start and make a big splash, some have boards they float around with and sometimes they have a make-shift raft that they climb on and dive off of. I can see them bouncing on the edge, so I know that some of the river is pretty shallow. It must be deep and swift in the middle as all who swim toward the middle get shifted downstream and they all turn back and swim back to the original shore.

Running leap into the river. Most of these kids are jumping up and down by the side and some actually swim to another location

The clouds were threatening a storm and still these kids played on

It is hard to tell if adults are watching or just other kids - maybe some of them in the water are adults

Sit on the wall and converse with friends - or climb over the wall for more adventure

And then there is the basketball game. When I lived in Canada if you drove down any street there was always a hockey game going on. Either on roller skates or with ice-skates, there was always boys who moved their goal post to let you through.
In the Philippines basket ball is the dominate sport. Any little patch of cement will have someone playing basketball into a homemade rim or a regular hoop.

The basketball games are every day, all day except during school hours