Talk forty nine.
New Orleans, Louisiana, 29thMarch
- We said goodbye to Florida yesterday.
- There’s one thing in this trip which I don’t like. Wherever we go, we stay there too short!
- This time, those 1100 km covered in one day from Fort Lauderdale to Navarre[5] gave me a hard time.
- As a reward we got the Santa Rosa Island and its beaches with sand as white as snow. Really! With only a few people.
- As for me, not enough. Nothing was happening there. Some families with children.
- You need to have someone to look at, don’t you?
- Now it’s only you I have left to look at.
- I’m so sorry for you!
- We can envy Florida its climate.
- With the exception of those hurricanes. They are hard on people here.
- On the entire area around the Gulf of Mexico. Now we are in New Orleans, Louisiana, and we can see the effects of what Katrina did in 2005[6]!
- We could buy a trip to see the area, but we gave up.
- I prefer to breathe the atmosphere of that frenzy and merry city and not to get depressed with the views which the hurricane had left.
- Till today, the district of the poor hasn’t yet been rebuilt.
- But the French Quarter has long been ready to receive tourists.
- This district and famous Bourbon Street[7] suffered the least. This historic street is the entertainment center of the city and many clubs, bars, and restaurants are the oldest in the United States. The nightlife in New Orleans concentrates right here, and what happened yesterday on Bourbon Street, with a huge crowd of people, seemed to be some crazy festival. Actually, it was a normal Wed-nesday.
- We looked also into Café Lafitte in Exile - the oldest gay club in the USA.
- Café Lafitte in Exile, because the original one is in Paris under the name of Le Lafitte.
- And once again someone tried to pick you up.
- Just to pick me up!! Isn’t anybody allowed to talk to me?
- He didn’t seem to like to talk to me.
- You looked too young for him, so he felt he had no chance with you.
- How do you know?
- While we were talking, you were busy watching those handsome karaoke performers. He told me about himself, as a financially independent lawyer who inherited a fortune after his deceased husband. As of now, he feels lonely and cannot find a new steady partner.
- Did he tell you why?
- Look at me – he said. – I’m old, fat and ugly. Who would like me? – The guy was a bit over fifty, short and chubby, but nothing especially ugly manifested. Except some squint behind thick glasses.
- He looked OK for me, too.
- Quite suddenly he left without even mentioning any meeting the next day.
- Before that he’d insisted to buy us some drinks.
- He considered himself a host and New Orleans resident and he explained that it was the way they treated guests.
- I wish we had come here on the Mardi Gras Day, which is famous for its incredible atmosphere.
- The main point of the celebration is a great parade organized in many parts of the city.
- There were some colourful coral beads left, which were being thrown onto us from balconies of the restaurants located on the first floor at Bourbon Street.
- These beads are the main prop with which men bestow attractive ladies.
- Or attractive men.
- Who happen to be no shortage of.
- There’s no shortage of any candy, either.
- Allegedly, home-made pralines or cakes with toffee topping are famous around the world.
- And that home-made calvados! Awesome!
- Don’t overdo! This home-made thing tasted like the worst kind of moonshine! We also drank that branded calvados from bottles, inside of which were huge apples or pears.
- We could announce a contest of guessing how to place such fruits in bottles of booze.
- It’s worth saying two words about the French Quarter[8], where we were walking the whole day admiring the unique architecture and well-kept tourist attractions.
- In a very well-known Market Cafe you ate the local favorite dish – the gumbo soup.
- It’s a bit like a goulash soup, but with seafood and local spices. It’s delicious but spicy. That’s why you passed on it. Instead, you chose beignets.
- It's something like a donut.
- Also baked mostly at the end of the carnival. These are the delights of the French influence in America!
- Whatever. Anyway, you won’t run away, or we won’t run away from a dramatic end of your friendship with Janusz and Andrzej.
- For eighteen years they had both existed in my life, and I had in theirs. We were like a family. There were joint trips to various events in Poland, trips to Portugal and Spain, where we had our friends.
- Didn’t you feel used in that friendship?
- No, I didn’t. I didn’t make any list of gains and losses, though. Friendship requires sacrifices. You have to invest the feelings, time, and certainly money. There is nothing for free. Just like with the famous karma. The more you give, the more you get.
- Janusz was getting a lot coming from Warsaw to Szczecin almost every month, and always staying with us.
- Because there he had some family matters to take care of. I admit, he used to be a bit burdensome and demanding as a guest. Remember though, every time we were their guests in Warszawa, we would receive wonderful welcome.
- We weren’t there that many times, though.
- Don’t be so petty. It was important that I felt no chemistry between you and them, and what's more, there was growing irritation, and there were arguments between us on all possible topics.
- Because there was no such a topic to which I could have any know-what. They had all the answers.
- I knew, you sometimes managed to let it be, but I saw it wasn’t any fun for you.
- Speaking bluntly: the company of theirs made me tired.
- I was also getting tired of their one-sided approach to many issues. Andrew was annoying with his misogyny and fascinations ...
- With young Brazilians. Hence their multiple trips to Rio.
- The first sign of the growing resentment in them to us was keeping secret some decisions they would take in life.
- We didn’t deserve to be entrusted with the secrets.
- Those weren’t any big secrets, as we got to know the stories from other friends, anyway. I think, they felt embarrassed to tell us all their desires. I knew what was them inside out. It was not that which caused the conflict.
- I was shocked when we found out that they both had voted for Lech Kaczynski's as president (the Law and Justice political party PiS).
- Thanks to that I understood their nature of claim and constant complaints for everything and for all, with minimal effort on their part to change anything.
- Change? Who for? They only think about themselves and their small and large pleasures in life.
- When we talked about the needs of change in our country in many areas, not just in moral views, they would always say "they have to do this, they need to change that”.
- Who are "they"?
- PiS will come and clean up after the Civic Platform (PO). Will do a decent vetting, chase away the Russians, well, and in general will change everything for the better.
- And who will take care of the partnerships regulations, which we talked so much with them?
- Well, someone has to do it, they say.
- Who will eventually fix Polish economy which is being robbed by PO.
- PiS of course!
- The others have to do so that Janusz and Adrzej were fine!
- To blame those who are to blame, find the guilty ones and punish them!
- They wanted to do the same with for the stagnation and deterioration of Szczecin.
- They themselves are no longer from Szczecin. They are from the capital city. Let me go back to when we went to Warszawa for the Euro Gay Pride in 2010 and we stayed in their nice apartment with an impressive view over Wrszawa, and we…
- … unleashed a discussion on economic issues, and a sharp argument went off.
- Probably I had too much to drink, so I lost control.
- There was nothing about gays.
- That’s why I was shocked the following day to learn they refused to join us for the Gay Pride Parade. Though we had demanded the same thing…
- At dinner the same night, they stated that they couldn’t publicly show in Warszawa in such a group! The other dinner guests took it light and laughed that we couldn’t expect anything like that from someone who voted in the presidential election for Kaczyński.
- It irritated me so much that I didn’t say a word any more. It was then when I decided to bring to an end our relationship.
- You didn’t give rise to any social scandal.
- I didn’t want to do any show. I just wanted to cool down our contacts and stop thinking about it. One of the reasons was your justified reluctance towards them.
- I never wanted to stand across that long friendship of yours.
- As it turned out to be, the whole thing went too far.
- I've heard that in Poland many families and friendships fell apart because of political differences.
- At that moment I thought it was …
- Meanwhile, a month later Janusz called and request a meeting.
- He said he was aware of the fact that it would be our last conversation, but he wanted our friendship to end in a civilized manner.
- What was it supposed to be like?
- When we met up in Szczecin, he attacked me trying to settle with a lot of my supposedly bad behaviour towards them.
- Di you let him to do so?
- I cut the conversation short by saying that I was a happy man and my only goal was to achieve peace in all areas, including relationships. And that's why I had to withdraw myself from the friendship.
- ?
- His last sentence was: "You will not get any peace with Adrian."
[1] Navarre Florida
[2] Hurricane Katrina New Orleans
[3] Bourbon Street
[4] French Quarter New Orleans
[5] Navarre Florida
[6] Hurricane Katrina New Orleans
[7] Bourbon Street
[8] French Quarter New Orleans
