The perseverant winter storm
I had a day off today and my to do list contained only two tasks. Both of them changed their game mode to hard since a winter storm, that began yesterday as a nice little snow, paralysed the city. I whined recently I wanted to drop weight, so my journey since the very first step turned into an intensive cardio. Once leaving the threshold of my house I drowned in the snow. Well, my knees but still. I hoped the public services would clean the street but they had other places to be, somewhere in the centre I guess. Cold icy needles kept pinching my face as I managed to move several blocks amidst the pristine whiteness I couldn't say I missed. For the last decade I witnessed that global warming thing was real as most winters were basically snowless and warm (the average daily temperature was about 0 °C). This day -13 °C helped the snow to stay afloat and prevent it from compact. Car crashes happen often.
Anyway, I reached to my hairdresser one hour later only to greet him in the lobby. As everyone else he came late and didn't have the time to prepare. I used this chance to get dry a little. We had a small talk, Venezuela already forgotten. He's fond of politics and as he remembers I know a thing or two about Iran we switched to them. I barely answered with 'hmm' and 'uh huh' giving myself the time to relax and restore stamina. This wasn't my final destination yet. For better or worse the hairdresser was inclined to speak rather than listen so I didn't have to invest much into this mono dialogue. Yet I corrected him once (I couldn't resist) when he exclaimed that Reza Pahlavi, the deposed shah's son, 'would surely install some religious regime back there'. Our gazes met in the mirror as I slowly asked 'You mean in the country called 'the Islamic Republic of Iran' there's no religious agenda'? That awkward silence was funny. I read the news without rooting for any of the sides but this self-proclaimed expert could combine two and two before claiming anything.
Once payed for his services, I headed towards the publishing house where I had worked prior to my current organisation. In total I worked there for five years and keep taking part-time jobs occasionally. That's how I came up with a name for this blog. I was an editor in the department of foreign literature. But unlike there I force myself to write here as is. No spellcheckers, no Reverso context of Linguee. The page bears (hah, bear like this site) my raw unfiltered English.
To my surprise the path along the church was rather clean even without human actions. The winds blew all the snow from the top of this hill down to the crowded streets. I finally entered the publishing house to sign several documents for my work to be paid next month. Sometimes I miss this small establishment and the simplicity of its life. But I remind myself: if me from the past decided to leave it then why would I betray myself now? In my book this could be considered as a step back. Well, no drastic moves for now, that's for sure.
I can't wait to the evening. Ivan, my Russian online friend, has his birthday on January 10. Since his time zone is +6 hours ahead of mine, I can send my online-quest (the parts of which I quickly assembled yesterday to present to my coworker Maria) at 18:00. I hope he will like it, as it took both time and mental efforts. But... if I play adult again and think aloud, nobody owes me anything, right? I mean, him saying 'thanks' is a basic politeness, but real pleasure isn't something he owes me. Nah, I'm overthinking. Just wait till 18:00 and send that damned link. And then my part is done.