I feel like I've had a breakthrough with this card tonight, for once I haven't seen the old man as bored! The 10 of Pents in this deck I have really struggled with mostly because of that look on the old man's face which doesn't fit too well with most descriptions of the 10 of Pents of happy stability, security etc etc.
I was doing a reading and the card popped up as actions together with the Hermit. All of a sudden, I didn't see him as bored, I saw him trying to have a good long think about things, and trying to find the space and peace in that noisy scene to do it! Admittedly, the Hermit helped me come to that conclusion but if you look at him, the old man does seem to be trying to tune out all the distractions.
I can relate to this, I do it at work all the time. Have you ever had something on your mind (not work related!) that you really need to think about but you keep getting interrupted with work things, or friend wanting a chat etc. And you end up trying really hard to focus and shut everyone else out but can't get 5 minutes peace to do it?
I'm still not sure this fits with traditional interpretations but I thought it might help anyone stuck on the "bored" expression.