Thaw, and Waiting Room Confidential

Today it was....
SUNNY.
And...
Above Freezing!
And....
This will continue! 
I'm hoping that by Monday the sun will have made a slight dent in my snowbound parking lot.

*     *     *
I had an appointment today at Children's. While I was walking to the office, I thought, I have spent years of my life here. I mean, YEARS. I have charts in almost every department. I know where every hallway, ever door, every elevator, leads. I even know the evolution of certain clinics; like Psych used to be in Timken Hall, as did the CF clinic.... 
Anyway, while I was waiting, I noticed something interesting.
The waiting room was packed. This is not unusual. What was unusual was the amount of audible conversation.
If you're waiting in, say, Radiology, or any clinic, and there's a few people in the room, people talk. They sort of murmur, but it's audible. When a clinic is crowded, there's little or no talking. People watch the TV, or they whisper to each other, or corral their kids.
Not in this clinic. People were talking, audibly, about personal things, across the room. It was so strange.  It's sort of like those cell conversations in public. Don't people realize others can hear you? (Even me, of the Bionic Ear.) Save it, folks.
I had never seen this happen in a crowded waiting room. I was sort of dumbfounded.
(I know, my day was thrilling. But this was extremely strange to me.)