The nowhere street

“Timisoara can have a lot of movement, events happening all the time, people living their lives and for me it feels sometimes similar to my mind, always hectic, always thinking about some problems, doubts, ideas.

In front of me there is this wall, I’m looking at it feeling empty minded, no thoughts, no noise, no agitation from people, just me, a chair and the wall.

I remember my first week of art highschool and my first month away from my family, living in the school dorm, trying to fit in with all the agitation of the big city.

One day I went out to buy some supplies and somewhere close to the city center I passed by this small narrow street between 2 buildings, blink and you might miss it, right there for a moment I felt captivated, curious about why it felt so odd and out of place, it even seemed the sound was absent from that place. Why was there a bench in the middle of it there was nothing more to look at then broken windows and bad graffiti.

I sat down and felt like I left the city, the country and all my problems behind, I was on a nowhere street, it feels weird but also amusing how out of place I was, no one who was passing by noticed me.

I’m back now, the old bench was still there, i’m sitting with a small piece of white chalk in my hand, the only difference is some writing on the wall “hello old friend”, looking at it I was wondering how many times did I blink and missed these “nowhere places” in the city?”

Author: Foale Alexandru

This digital story has been realised within the European project “Stories Behind the Cities”, founded by Creative Europe Programme, European Commission.