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Valentine’s day

16-Feb-2017

I’m moved by the view from our new living room.

Our.

New.

Living room.

Yesterday was a very dense day, and, incidentally, it was Valentine’s Day.

I exchanged a few words with a former homeless

I had my first job interview in London

I received an “I like your outfit” LIVE!, not on facebook

I got the job

We relocated

We had dinner by the umpteenth Turkish restaurant, just around the corner of our new home

we have natural light entering through the windows.

It was 8:30 A.M. when I left the cafe, still too early to go to the interview, and there was a homeless handling magazines that look like the Italian “Scarp da tennis”. The cover reads: “the literature issue” and I was very tempted to take it, ’cause at the time I was reading J.M. Coetzee’s “Summertime” and I was thinking a lot about literature…but I don’t have money to spend on luxury stuff like magazines, so I surpassed him. And then he said to me: “Nice hat!”. Oh, yes, I bought myself a kind of bowler hat from Primark (on sale), to complete the smart attire required for a job interview. A reddish orange coat, and an optical black and white scarf. I know I won’t go unnoticed. I turned back and asked him to tell me more about that magazine of his. Since I confessed I don’t have a job yet, he tried to give me a complementary copy but I refused, and we kept talking about his travels, the magazine and a friend of him, an Italian homeless who bought her ticket back to Italy working as a magazine vendor, like he’s doing at the moment. In the end he augured I’d find a job soon.

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I felt like I had recovered the opportunity I’ve lost on January 31st, when you’d wear a badge you’d find in the tube, reading “Happy to chat”, doing my share to fight Britain’s loneliness epidemic.

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Mi commuove questa vista sull’esterno che c’è dal nostro nuovo salotto.

Nostro.

Nuovo.

Salotto.

Ieri è stata una giornata densissima di eventi, e, incidentalmente, era San Valentino.

Ho scambiato due parole con un former homeless

Ho fatto la mia prima job interview a Londra

Ho ricevuto un “I like your outfit” live, non su facebook

ho avuto il lavoro

abbiamo traslocato

abbiamo cenato dall’ennesimo turco appena svoltato l’angolo della nostra nuova casa

abbiamo della luce naturale che entra dalle finestre.

Alle 8:30 ero fuori dal cafè, ancora troppo presto per andare al colloquio, un senzatetto pubblicizzava una rivista la cui copertina recitava: “the literature issue” e che pareva l’equivalente dell’italiano “Scarp da tennis”. Ero molto tentata di prenderlo, perchè in quei giorni stavo leggendo “Summertime” di J.M. Coetzee  e stavo pensando molto alla letteratura … ma non ho i soldi per beni di lusso come le riviste, così lo supero. Alle mie spalle sento esclamare: “Nice hat!”. Eh, già, ho comprato una sorta di bombetta da Primark (in saldo), per completare lo smart attire necessario per un colloquio di lavoro. Un cappotto rosso-arancio, e un foulard optical bianco-e-nero. Roba che non passa inosservata. Torno indietro e gli chiedo di dirmi di più su quella rivista. Viene fuori che non ho ancora un lavoro e allora vuole darmi una copia gratis, che rifiuto. Continuiamo a parlare dei suoi viaggi, della rivista e di un’amica homeless italiana che ha comprato il suo biglietto di ritorno facendo il lavoro che sta svolgendo lui adesso. Alla fine mi ha augurato di torvare lavoro al più presto.

Mi sono sentita come se avessi recuperato l’opportunità persa il 31 gennaio, quando avrei potuto indossare una pin che regalavano in metropolitana con su scritto “Happy to chat“, facendo così la mia parte per combattere la solitudine che qui viene percepita come un’epidemia.

Pictured, the cat from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” greeting us, as soon as we arrive at our new house on the 14th night.

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Published on 16-Feb-2017
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Valentine’s day

Comments

  1. James de Booij says:

    Congrats with job, not bad for starters, huh? I started to wonder what this particular new outfit of yours looked like! Best, stay tough, James

    Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPhone

    >

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