1st of December 2005:When I lost the… “chance of my life” | Ilias Papageorgiadis’ blog for Real Estate in Romania (and not only)

1st of December 2005:
When I lost the… “chance of my life”

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Part 1

      The winter was just about to enter in the Romanian capital and the temperature was below 0, that cold evening of November, 2005. The trees did not carry many leaves anymore and all people were walking fast, trying to reach their destination and protect themselves from freezing. Having lived for one year in the area of Piata Alba Iulia, I was very familiar with the streets. So it was really funny for me to be obliged to follow “protection measures”. But… after all the James Bond movies I have watched, following two ladies in the middle of the night was not so difficult. They had parked in Burebista street and they did not walk directly to the building where we had to be. “You are a foreigner, you might cause to us problems, we must make sure that you will not know the location” told me one of them, in her half English - half Romanian language.
      Lucky me… together with two ladies… about 50 - 55 years old. They had surpassed the level, after which a woman’s age gets lost in the darkness of unidentified, the myth of unknown. Their make up was the best they could think of, especially for the occasion, as I was informed. Thank God they were both blonde, because their dark clothes created the sight of black figures moving in the night, with something yellow seen under their black hats. No, they were not sisters…
      It was 21.30 when they finally decided that I was confused enough, so they headed to our destination, a building with direct opening to Alba Iulia Square. At last!

The “luxurious headquarters”…
      One of them entered first in the elevator and went up. The other one followed, together with me. This was the night when I felt the closest possible to the people who have died from toxic smell… Her perfume was a bit heavy (like an… elephant), but it is normal that a middle age lady does not follow the latest trends. “I am lucky the other one did not enter in the same time too” I thought… We reached the floor and I rushed to get out, so as to breathe fresh air again! Nooo, I think that the last time that floor level was washed, Elena Ceausescu was in England, being awarded by the Queen…
      No light whatsoever… But suddenly a door opened on my left! “Welcome to our headquarters!, Mister Papageanu” she screamed, full of pride and happiness for spelling my name correctly. I entered in a normal not renovated apartment. “Poftiti”, she showed me the way to the biggest room, the only one with light. Walking to it, they politely took my jacket, after they tried to create a discussion about what kind of material it was. It was woolen, but they behaved as if it was a crocodile one…
      I entered in the door of the big room, their living room. I saw a gentleman, around 65 - 70, watching sports on television. He was dressed with his white underwear top and some jeans. He had probably come back from some kind of work, I guess he was tired and he did not have shower yet. I told him hello, but he was quite upset. He turned to one of the ladies and told her something in Romanian, I only figured out that he did not like my presence…

“We are a big, serious company. Look here!”
They showed me an old wooden chair and asked me to sit down there. I had a look around their living room. Half of it was full of papers, while the other half was like a normal people’s home. The table was situated behind the gentleman who was watching tv and I was honored to be asked to sit exactly next to his back… Table I said? Well, I guess that was a table, as it was all covered with papers and maps. Properties everywhere… all kinds of documents… one of the ladies brought me a coffee, which she carefully placed on a bunch of papers. (No she did not ask me if I drink, she brought it directly. This is the way things should be… proactive people, arranging all the details in advance).
When we were all sitting down, the ladies started talking quietly, so as not to disturb the husband of the one, who was watching his favorite tv programme. This because each time someone was raising his voice, he was increasing the volume of tv too, so as to send the clear message of “who is the boss here”. The lady on my left took a paper under another bunch of documents. “This is the certificate of our company. We are a big, serious company. Look here!” and she presented it to my face. I did not insult them and I tried to… study the document… the simple blue registration document of every company. “Now we can start talking, as you know how serious we are”…

(tomorrow the second part)

1st of December 2005:
When I lost the… “chance of my life”

Part 1

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