These Days
Metz, France 1974
I am probably four, its my first school year and my parents told me it was a time I was madly in love with my teacher. We have settled here for a few months but I am well accustomed to move from places to places. In the last 18 months a major change has occurred though, insofar as we have upgraded our short stays from a large caravan on wheels usually sitting on a deserted suburban parking to centrally rented and fully furnished flats. People here have a funny accent I think but little I know it would not take me long to pick it up myself before having to off load it on our next stop a few months later.
For the time being I enjoy the snow on this cold day of December 1974 even though logistical constraints mean that I am confined to spend the entire day in our 3 rooms flat. Living on the last floor of a seven storey building there is no way I can be left unsupervised in the playground by -2 Celsius.
So I have retired to my parents bedroom, I like to climb on their bed as I have a access to a small window overlooking the busy train station. The 'lucarne'' is small and half covered with frost in contrast with the warm flat. Its fascinating to observe such a hive of activity thru this little look on.
From right to left, my field of vision is full with loads, reloads and off loads of people and merchandise. I notice some people are wearing uniforms while others (I call them civilians) are engulfed in their winter coats but all of them seem to have in common that they know what they are doing , their demeanour is assertive albeit brisk sometimes but always in a motion that doesn't display any form of insecurity or suggest uncertainty.
Even though I would love to board one of those carriages I can not help asking myself where those train railcars and fancy locomotives are coming from and where they are going to?
Sofia, Bulgaria 1991
A trip for a soul badly needing repair took me to the Bulgarian capital for reasons that still somewhat escape me today. I have no clue why I had picked that destination, was it some adventurous eastern exploration, or some aspiration to experience the deceleration of the engine called the communist block.
Indeed, shortly after the Wall fell I went thru a central and eastern european roaming spell that had already taken me on a night train to Poland thru East Germany. That was the year before but prior to that trip I had also journeyed for more than 25 hours over to Budapest on a cramped bus. I had also added Prague as a curiosity destination just to see what it looked like a few months earlier.That was long before it got fashionable to spend a week end in the Czech capital.
February in Bulgaria is cold and I stand out like a sore thumb among the other pedestrians. My base ball cap and navy parka makes me look like a Marine on a day off and it is not helped by the fact that I am wearing rangers boots to protect my feet from the cold. I am staying in a very cheap and average hotel which oddly enough saw an anti mafia raid taking place the second morning I was there.
A big bang at the door suddenly left place to three officers barking at me some obscenities in a language I did mot master. I went to pick my passport and they retreated with incredulity once they saw my ID. There was a few unidentified insects crawling back to my room when the elite policemen slammed the door without a word.
I wandered for a few days in Sofia with no particular plan, my itinerary was led by instinct, mood and curiosity. I found a pizzeria owned by Macedonians, they spoke a bit of English and it became my HQ.
One day the owner asked me why I was there, in a town where by all means I seemed to be the only westerner. I looked at him and he got somewhat dumbfounded by my reply: '' if only I knew man, if only I knew! '' .
Dublin, Ireland 2018
That was then. These days I am slightly older if not any wiser, I am about to enter into my fifth decade and have firmly concluded two life decades in Ireland. We had a very strong and unusual episode of snow in the recent weeks so much so that schools had to be closed and people were advised to remain indoors. Trains were not working and many events were called off.
My eldest is passing an entry exam with the secondary school he will attend next year. Its close enough from where we live , it has beautiful grounds including great sport facilities. I love the pottery cottages and small houses labs near the Hockey pitches. There is a youthful atmosphere emanating from the campus, it reminds me of Harry Potter that's probably not even remotely true but that's the closest benchmark I can come up with.
My son will enter his exam room later but only after parents and pupils have attended a welcome speech from the head master. I am not sure what he says but he is busy answering inquisitive questions from anxious and zealous parents. I think it is closer to an interrogatory than a bunch of candid questions about logistics and fees.
I have zero interest in mind games or ping pong exchanges so I detach myself from the room and begin to intensely stare at the perfectly manicured lawn. I sense a change. What it is I don't know and I am very unsure I can even start to explain let alone describe it in physical terms.
The best I can think of is a tangible sentiment of time shift, a peaceful alteration to the journey , a palpable invitation from soft voices to begin another voyage.
The head master has finished his introductory speech and everybody gets up.
Sources
People and stuff
Photo Credit
Mediocrity in life
Produced for beBee
Written Material Copyright 2018 - Pascal Derrien -
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Comments
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#24
many thanks for reading that one Louise I often do cliff hangers it leaves the reader with the power to imagine.... well that's what I would like to believe :-)
Louise Smith
7 years ago#23
Louise Smith
7 years ago#22
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#21
Thanks I have travelled a lot not everywhere but almost on all continents bar Australia, people learn about themselves in different way for me exploring was the best apprenticeship :-)
🐝 Fatima G. Williams
7 years ago#20
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#19
cheers scratching my head now :-) The title is probably more in relation with the last paragraph to me that's what is important not the past even though I like to acknowledge it :-)
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#18
ah you are very good and it's great encouragement to know that those short stories do resonate and end up becoming static travels vehicles, thank you Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador :-)
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#17
wow Proma \ud83d\udc1d Nautiyal this is such a praise that I am almost embarrassed and I am blushing now :-) That was the intent so I think its good it did work out ....in happy way :-)
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#16
This is very nice comment Shelley Brown, I am very humbled by your words few words, sometimes we don't need to know people to know people :-)
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#15
I would not have said it any better and I second that :-)
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#14
#22 that's nice to hear Neil Smith and very kind of you to mention it on top of reading my wacko stuff :-) You are a gentleman :-)
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#13
thank you who needs virtual reality ? :-) Gert Scholtz many thanks for commenting and sharing your kind thoughts !
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#12
Its too demanding writing about a whole week I am a part timer :-) Ken Boddie
Ken Boddie
7 years ago#11
Randall Burns
7 years ago#10
Indeed! But that's what makes it relate-able, interesting, and entertaining
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#9
thanks Randall Burns how funny that every day stuff can become the backbone of a story line :-)
Randall Burns
7 years ago#8
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#7
thanks Bill King indeed life on ''static'' wheels is a paradox :-)
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#6
thanks Ali in 1991 it was a mixed bag but customer service was still a very alien concept , menus were sometimes pretty tricky too as I cannot read anything in cyrillic alphabet either :-)
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#5
Indeed and alsmost spooky I thought about that song when writing this, funnily enough I also bought a Bon Jovi K7 tape in the sheltered market in Sofia that week but I don think they had written that one yet :-)
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#4
ah thank you Claire L Cardwell a bit on the erratic side of musing :-) :-)
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#3
thanks Julio Angel \ud83d\udc1dLopez Lopez hopefully something along those lines indeed :-)
Julio Angel 🐝Lopez Lopez
7 years ago#2
Pascal Derrien
7 years ago#1
thank you Mister Debasish Majumder :-)