I've got a spring in my step, a waltz in my walk, a smile in my heart. But not on my face. No-one has a smile on their face any more.
I know this because yesterday's prompt in Fat Mum Slim's #marchphotoaday (TM) (should be TM anyway) (seriously, go away copycats and leave FMS aloneski!) (sorry, I digress) (why do people copy stuff?) (and why can't I take great shots like all the other people in Photo A Day?) (sorry, I will get to the point of this post now...)
was 'smile'.
And I looked aallll over the city for a smile and I didn't find one. Not one.
Oh, there were people smiling at a friend or laughing at a joke here and there. Big smile for a second, then the non-smiley face was back. No smiles for the random stranger, 99.99% of people walking down the street looked like someone had made them sign up to a month without chocolate.
Shop mannequins don't smile any more. Which is probably a good thing - remember all those weird '80s mannequins with striped teeth to match their boldly striped polo shirts? These days mannequins are lucky to get faces, let alone smiles. They are about as bright and bubbly as a catwalk model walking* for Prada (the most humourless label ever, unless you count charging $1000 for a handbag made out of old tyre rubber funny).
Even advertisements don't smile any more. All the people on posters are so darn serious and 'sexy' looking. It seems you can't smile and be sexy at the same time. Not at all. You need to do the pouty, frowny look if you want to be sexy. Like Rubenesque women, smiles are no longer considered the ideal look. I guess they show all the lines on your face too much. They make your eyes go crinkley and small; the nose gets pushed up. Cheeks get enormous and wrinkles appear in unexpected places.
I was thiiiis close to getting a homeless guy to smile for my shot before I realised how cheap it was to pay someone who doesn't want to smile to smile. I gave him a fiver and wished him a nice day anyway. He didn't smile even then. I don't blame him.
Where did all the smiles go?
* I can't believe I just wrote 'walking for' when talking about catwalk models. Who am I? Next thing I will be referring to plurals in the singular - 'say, that's a really nice taupe shoe you've paired with your camel short.'
[Image from weheartit and (hopefully) fence posts everywhere]