There are strange days, long and idle, not weekends, but those when, say, your vacation has already begun, but you have not left yet, you linger in the city. Or, on the contrary, they have already returned from somewhere, but the vacation has not yet ended. And then you can sit quietly at home all day. But how can one sit quietly… at home… in THIS city?!
There are strange days, long and idle, not weekends, but those when, say, your vacation has already begun, but you have not left yet, you linger in the city. Or, on the contrary, they have already returned from somewhere, but the vacation has not yet ended. And then you can sit quietly at home all day. But how can one sit quietly… at home… in THIS city?! Especially if outside the window a tree, familiar to you a long time ago and imperceptibly grown, and behind this tree, there, further … lines of new buildings, which have also not been new buildings for a long time. It’s just that these houses were built with you. And, means, you already for a long time live in THIS city.
And then you go out, and you can go or go anywhere. What does «anywhere» mean in THIS city?
And here you are driving and suddenly you realize that you are going where you go every day. Every single day. But you give yourself an indication: today I’m not in a hurry. And suddenly you can see everything, consider everything. And even enjoy what is usually annoying. Because the city lives its usual day, and you have an unusual day today.
And you can stand tightly in a traffic jam and enjoy just this traffic jam. And to look around and in all the cars around to see only very hurried and very annoyed people who put pressure on the horns and move their lips cursing. Swear words you can’t hear. And these people remind you of fish in aquariums.
And you have time to take up the radio and find a pleasant wave. And suddenly hear the music! Hear it like you haven’t heard music in a long time.
And then you are driving along the boulevards, and somewhere ahead, over the houses, the edge of a clear sky flashed, and beautiful houses flashed by to the right … And you pass by some kind of embassy of some kind of country whose name does not mean anything to you, and you you will never visit there, and even there are no such thoughts. But the flag of this country flutters in the wind. And it flutters in your wind … And let it.
And you overtake a tour bus, a big, tall bus. It carries foreigners around the city. Elderly foreign people. They drive around THIS city in their beige or pistachio blouses and trousers, looking around. And you can look where they are looking. And suddenly see … Beautiful!
And then you can slow down at the traffic lights, and soldiers are leading along the crossing. And the soldiers are walking down the street, also looking around. They are probably the first time in such a big city. Is there a bigger city? It’s the biggest city in the world!
And you can also go and see a young beautiful woman who is standing, holding a little girl, obviously her daughter, so that she does not run out onto the roadway, because you are driving there. And you can smile. But smile not at this woman, but just like that.
And you can also meet guys, a few young guys who, without hurrying, go and drink beer. It can be seen from them that they wandered somewhere all night, they had fun, but now the day is coming, and they are returning somewhere, bought beer, go, and now they are not happy. But they can be envied. Because you can’t do it anymore. Because you are not supposed to drink something all night on a bench, and then walk down the street and drink beer from the bottle.
But suddenly a policeman stopped you, and you need to give him money so that he will let you go. Usually you did it easily, but here you experienced horror. Because they suddenly thought: “Oh, how can I give money to a person? This is the same person. Man! He has a higher education, he is an officer, and there is something so big behind him, which is even bigger than this whole city, because he will be offended that some other person is trying to give him money. He will be offended for his higher education, for being an officer, and for everything big. But you stretch out the money, and he calmly takes it, and it becomes insulting to you.
But you pay and go. But, of course, you didn’t pay a hundredth of what you should pay. But the main thing is that you do not feel that you have to pay at least anything. And you haven’t arrived yet. And ahead is a long, long day and a city that never ends. And there is still a long, long life ahead. Your life, which also did not begin anywhere and will not end anywhere.