When Braila reminded me London…
(All time Classics, 13.02.2008)
"MISTER ILIAS" (the tone of her voice was really loud, I felt for a second as if I was a very important person) "these are the lands I was telling you about" "These? What do you mean these? Where do you see these?" "Look to the right and left, here you can see the areas where you can start buying properties"…
When I was young, I was told many times that I have "eyes like a hawk" and I was really proud of it. That day I realized that it was just a compliment made to a young kid… I turned my head to the right, I could barely see 5 meters from the road. I turn my head to the left…. things were better; I could see even more than 10 – 15 meters. The fog was hiding everything, but the lady was talking as if the atmosphere was dry and she could see far away: "From there, after that channel, you can buy around 1.000 hectars (for the ones who don't know, 1 hectar = 10.000 sq.m.). There, if you look carefully, you will see an electricity pillar. On its left there are around 500 – 600 hectars to buy". "What am I doing here, in this place?" I thought…
The intercity train to Braila was leaving at 06:00. It was February of 2005 and it was just my third"excursion" out of the Romanian capital, the second time in Braila. At around 09.00 I arrived at the train station and the "old time classic" Dacia 1310 was expecting me (the first Dacia Logan appeared in Bucharest 6 months later). The weather was foggy, but the schedule was fixed. "We go to see agricultural lands!" the real estate agent shouted filled with happiness , as if we were on the way to 5th Avenue in New York for some crazy shopping…
"Isn't it a problem that we don't have visability? I can barely see 50 meters in front of me on this road" I complained to my happy joyful companion, once in the car. "No, its ok, soon it will be clear and don't worry, where we go, you will see all you need to see". "I had asked for a map, is there any here?" "No, but we don't need it, I will explain everything to you, you are clever, you will understand" (and then we search for reasons why people lose their self confidence…. how do you feel when someone finds you intelligent for understanding something and you don't?).
At around 35 – 40 km from the city we turned left and then we entered another road, not as large as the previous one but with enough space for 2 cars to drive. After 3 more minutes we stopped. No, alarms were not necessary; no one would see them anyway. The fog was impressive and the atmosphere really wet, I felt like a "Londoner".
I tried really hard to explain the basics to the smiling agent, who was so proud that she had revealed "the… national secret of the best properties to buy" and she was ready to accept my order, in order to start buying there. "I am sorry, how can I buy properties when I can't see them?" "But it's clear, ah ok, wait a few minutes and you will see". After 1,5 hour in the freezing cold, trying to invent a discussion while we waited for the fog to clear, we even had a conversation regarding the only car that passed on that road… but it wasn't meant to be…
Some people say I am bad, that I have a cold heart. That joyful (until that moment) lady was ready to join the club. I tried to be as polite as possible, but my face was showing all I was trying to hide. "Let's go back to the city and we'll come another time, when there's less fog". I guess her reaction would have been better if I would have told her the worst words. Her smile disappeared; she started talking rudely, for a moment I thought she was talking to the others to leave me there. There, in the middle of nowhere…
No, of course not. She was kind enough to allow me to return with their car back to the city. She refused to discuss business with me again . For her and her partners I was a "tourist who came here to waste our time and he will never buy anything". She was right. Since then my company has taken part in transactions of "just" 13.500 hectars…