DC Folks On The Royals

Las week there was a great "man on the street" piece in the Washington Post about how some Washingtonians in Southeast D.C. (poor, black) viewed a visit by Prince Charles and Camilla to a charter school. Here are some of the more choice, honest and on point quotes:

• "Aaron Smith, 38, and his girlfriend, Kelly Dinkins, 21, breezed past the crowd on their way to catch the bus to his Southeast apartment. 'It ain't like he's throwing a big bag of money in the air,' said Smith, a maintenance worker at the World Bank. 'What's so special?'"
• "Some were pleased just to be in the same Zip code as the royals, if briefly. Others took a measure of the limousines and fancy dinners and pricey couture and said it all added up to a big ho-hum. As Norman Winters, 57, put it when told that the royals would arrive a block from the house he was painting in Southeast: 'I'm going home to take a bath.'"
• "A fellow worker, Tyrone Burns, 42, his dark shirt spattered with white paint, nodded in agreement and brushed aside any notion that the royal life was something to envy: 'I wouldn't want to be leader of a country. It's hard enough being leader of my house.'"
• "Michael Blue, 55, a bicycle messenger on his way to deliver a package to the Commerce Department, put on his brakes. 'Camilla, is that her name?' he asked, acknowledging that he preferred wife number one. 'Diana was cool. She had a certain je ne sais quoi , if you will. She was prettier than this one, that's for sure, but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.'"
• "George Lewis, 66, who lives on C Street SE, said, 'They don't know me from Adam, and I don't know them.' He then disappeared inside his modest brick house. But curiosity got the best of him. A few minutes later, he came outside, a $3 cigar in his teeth and an instant camera in his hand."
• "'It gives you a chill to be part of something,' Brent said as the entourage drove past. Chambers shrugged. 'It gives you a chill standing out in this cold air,' she said, folding her arms before heading home."