Big City Life

     Life can not be more lonesome in a big city...
     A few days or weeks in between tournaments- and there can pass hours or even a day or two until I speak to a real person, until I have a real conversation, not on phone or skype or facebook... Yeah, people live in groups and societies not accidentally.
     Well, I have decided that I had spent enough time on social media and phone so I went out for a change. I went to the bus stop, wondering which is the bus I should take to a quite close to my flat shopping center. Being thirsty for a conversation with a "real person", I asked a young woman what number had the bus I should take. Quite common, right? I was expecting a quick, bored answer, maybe accompanied by a suspicious look- that's how people usually react here, tired and sore from their routine- big city life...
      Like I've said, she was a young woman, a few years older than me perhaps... A long "grey-ish" coat, some worn black boots, a pink-ish cap and a scarf, no make up- she was drowning in the city's endless shades. She told me I could take whatever bus came first- they were all driving the same way- like many of us do- work, home, work, home, home, home and work again. Not I, I am the lucky chess player whose home and work routine is not quite defined... After some 20 sec thought and the suspicious look I've already got used to, she decided she could share a bit more- there was a free bus, one she was waiting for as well- it was driving towards the shopping center I aimed for. Surprised by her being so talkative, I decided to continue our conversation. What could I say? I complained a bit about the mud that was all around, saddened about my recently polished shoes which looked quite sad as well, by that time. She told me I could use the public restroom of the shopping center in order to try to clean them. Hm, I was surprised by her remark... She stopped talking and started to look again for the bus we were waiting for. She told me then that the bus had a specific logo and it didn't stop at every station, we had to wave the hand for it to stop and take us. It was the most common and in the same time the strangest conversation I have ever had in my whole life!
     When the next bus came, I told her I'll just take it, tired to wait for the "free logo bus". I had a conversation today and it was enough. It was just the time to go clean my shoes...
   
      No, I'm not lonely, and I don't wait eagerly for the next tournament, I love to drown in the sad shades of this big city, with its suspicious, bored and sore people who can be very talkative... From time to time...


Cheers from Bucharest!