Trafika Europe 1 - Northern Idyll

head high. To even my own surprise, I exuberantly booted a pigeon which had failed to jump out of my way on the dusty pavement. Most likely the passersby were unable to give the act the appreciation it deserved. The wannabe rebellious graffiti on a fence – “Just do it before they do you” – struck me as jejune, the peevish hand that scrawled it evidently incapable of anything more than peevish scrawling. Once upon a time there was a Chinaman – an old dog, a stubborn goat who used to pull a rickshaw at Yabao Market in the center of Beijing. The only expression he could share with me was, “velly bad show” (at least I never heard him say anything else I could understand) – but the way he said it has ever since given me a sensible answer when someone asks, “How’s it going?” “Velly bad show” means “Everything sucks, but I feel good.” Actually, everything was fine too. Ivanovo in some cynical, catastrophic way, develops a taste in you for apocalypse. At times like this I am at the helm, liking a lot of things, and nothing can get in my way.

This was just the right moment for me to call him.

“How is your young life going?”

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