Monday 8 October 2007
DOUG R. (England)
Curiosity killed
the
cat?
Part 2
Curiosity killed the cat? It nearly killed me. Warsaw.
I had arrived in Warsaw the day before we planned to meet. I organised
accommodation in a private flat, as is the excellent system in East Europe,
arranged via the official tourism office.
The train from Odessa was due in at 6 pm. I arrived at the station much too
early. Anticipation? Excitement? Even earlier than early, I must have been
at the railway station two hours before the train was due.
I waited on the quoted platform, checking the platform number more than
once. About thirty minutes before scheduled time I saw a scruffy train
arriving on the next platform from the “wrong” direction and took no notice.
Thirty minutes later nothing had arrived on my platform so I decided to
investigate. The scruffy train was from Odessa and had arrived early.
There she was, standing under a station light in a long black coat with
blonde hair falling out of her cap. She looked absolutely gorgeous.
I wonder how she felt having endured an overnight train journey to find
nobody to meet her? What was running through that pretty head? It turned out
she was so stressed from the journey and so tired she didn’t even have
energy to worry. She just stood there and waiting and knowing absolutely for
sure somehow that I would arrive as arranged. My Mystery Organiser at work?
It is part of my Welsh heritage to feed visitors, as a way of showing them
we care. It was natural for me to take her for a meal in the station
restaurant. We talked. And talked and talked. I discovered the platform
number refers to both sides, in England each side is numbered differently.
This hint of differences to come had cost us 30 minutes! We soon made up for
it.
We spent the next days walking around Warsaw, and talking. We were able to
share events and experience places such as the Chopin Park, and the rebuilt
old city streets with their unpronounceable names. We even went up the ugly
Russian Tower. This horrible object dominates Warsaw as if to remind the
inhabitants of their recent past. Apparently the Russians offered to the
City Fathers the choice of an underground train system or to build this
Tower!
I was surprised to see extensive graffiti all over Warsaw. I suppose that is
the price of freedom. I cannot imagine the communists permitting it.
Who cared where we went? The shared experience is what mattered. We took
many photographs and asked bystanders to take ones of us together. She
explained how useful these might be if we needed to prove the validity and
length of our relationship to officialdom. She was right, but in the event
they were not required.
Among the problems new to me was the prevalence of everyday fraud. As soon
as she saw my English note with a marker ink line across it she knew I would
have trouble changing it for local currency. In Ukraine that implied a
counterfeit note.
She was right. I wasted our precious time trying various money exchanges as
we walked around. Honesty is not part of everyday life in Eastern Europe.
I also came across a situation, unusual for me, of being mistaken for either
a German or a Russian. Neither was popular in Poland, for understandable
reasons. Nobody seemed to speak or understand English.
In one supermarket we were speaking English together. She heard the shop
assistants discussing us, deciding we must be Russians because they did not
understand English. She understood them. Ukraine language has many
similarities to Polish.
I noticed small matters like being charged for four cups of coffee not the
two ordered and received. I was able to sort that out by explaining in
French. Nobody understood English. Apparently they had thought I was a
German. All was put right when I explained I was from Wales. I graciously
accepted the coffee for no charge!
The time came to depart. We had had that essential “meeting” of minds. I
knew I was not going mad after all. I had enjoyed her company over a few
weeks. We had shared several experiences. We were able to communicate-
always an important matter between two humans in a long term relationship.
I might need my Mystery Organiser to help me but I was much more certain of
the way ahead. I was sure we could overcome whatever unforeseen problems
were lined up to block our progress. Somehow they would be overcome.
The next step was for me to visit her at home in Odessa. I took her to the
station to see her safely off and boarded the airport bus outside.
Except it was going in the wrong direction! But that’s another story.
End of part 2
DOUG R. (England)
