Talking to people strongly discouraged - Whenever I speak to fellow foreigners, a short while later, something weird happens, often making my situation worse.
Case in point. A few days ago, a rather large chap from central europe stopped to have a chat. We had a nice conversation, it was good to actually have a real life conversation with someone for once. It doesn't happen very often. But it was difficult, because I've learnt over the years here that anytime I talk about something specific, anytime I divulge personal information, it always in some way comes back to bite me. So I end up seeming somewhat evassive, but it's for good reason.
In this case I was able to communicate that to the bloke. As we chatted he said that things couldn't get much worse and I should just accept any help. I mentioned that if there is one thing I've learnt, it's that things can always get worse. When you are in a bad situation, something that is super easy to fix in a few minutes for regular folks, can end up being a multi-day or week gargantuan project. It's a totally different universe. The example I gave was a broken zip on a bag. That can really f you up.
Anyhow the next day he gifted me some clothes. Just basic stuff but good quaility and it made a big difference. All items were black. Things I really needed. I've been wearing the stuff. It's great. Well yesterday, after a day of pink tsunamis, something that happens relatively regularly, I noticed that, suprise suprise, the zip on my main back pack, the new one that I was gifted by another fellow european about a month ago, was partly broken.
How did it happen? Well there were a couple of opportunities it could have happened. It's in the exact same place as happened on another bag about 2 years ago. That bag had been fine for 8 years. There was a strange incident where a stranger took the bag and insisted on moving it totally unnecessairly. About 20 minutes later I noticed the zip was broken. There was also another incident during the COVID lockdown where the main strap on a bag was cut with a sharp tool. I had only left it unattended for a few seconds. Getting that fixed was a massive massive ordeal.
Well guess what, this time about a minute after discovering the broken zip, two incredibly tall westerners, male and female, dressed entirely head to toe in black clothes walked past. It's very unusual. You just don't see a lot of goths, the weather isn't very conducive for it. It's way too hot for goths here. This type of thing happens everytime I talk with anyone. #