Part of the reason I came on this mini-sabbatical was to work on my dissertation, which has been put on hold due to recent unexpected events.
Before today, I had read the first eight pages of a very large textbook - honestly, it's more like a doorstop than a book - then got distracted people-watching and chatting. So after much prancing and visiting other countries, I decided to earmark today as a study day.
I had a long sleep then pondered as to how to actually achieve something on my earmarked study day, when I get distracted so readily. I made myself a coffee and ate the disproportionately huge '7 Day' croissant which I had purchased from the local supermarket, which is called 'Shop and Go'. What a daft name for a supermarket - what else would you do after shopping? Hang around? Actually, I might well do that if I got chatting, so maybe it's not that daft.
There is a whole breed of people out there, across the world, called 'Digital Nomads'. I know about them because I listen to Radio 4 and read The Guardian. They are all exceptionally cool and have jobs in things I don't understand like 'digital marketing' and 'coding'. They live on their devices, wear very large noise-cancelling (as if you can cancel noise!) headphones and can live anywhere in the world which has WiFi, which is just about everywhere - more places have WiFi than running water (I read that somewhere once). Their tax situation is dubious (they said so on Radio 4), because they are not domiciled anywhere, technically, as long as they don't overstay - the limit for staying is 183 days.
Cosy as my little room is, it is lacking in an actual desk from which to work, and I figured I would be more focused elsewhere, so I started looking for somewhere to go and embrace my inner Digital Nomad.
I read all sorts of nonsense about the pros and cons of various places in Bucharest, probably all written by Digital Nomads, and decided to pick one and go and draw my own conclusions.
I walked to a cafe highly regarded amongst local Digital Nomads, if there is such a thing. My map ended right outside some concrete monstrosity, telling me I had arrived. I hadn't. Then I realised there was a winding backstreet which did in fact, lead to a very quirky looking home for Digital Natives, alongside the cool kids of Bucharest. I fitted right in, obviously.
I purchased a coffee, then set-up on a large table where a sign threatened 'Laptops, one hour only'. I levered the enormous textbook out of my bag, fired up my little laptop then spent the next few hours writing and writing and writing my dissertation, based on the very fluid plan I'd sketched out on a thing Digital Nomads don't know about - paper.
I ordered another coffee, realising that was my third of the day, hence my head was caffeinated to an unhelpful extent. I carried on writing, intent on having something to show for my day as a Digital Nomad.
Well over an hour passed, and no-one seemed fussed that I was still in the same place. I was hungry but didn't want to relocate as I was very comfortable. I went to see what they had to eat - quiche. That'll do, I thought, that'll buy me another couple of hours. They kindly warmed it up and brought it over to me. That said, the quiche came with a London price-tag and cost the same as my entire lunch yesterday, so I think the least they could have done was to pop it in the microwave for thirty seconds, but I was grateful anyway.
I continued to write my thesis and even found myself enjoying the writing - it's quite a different type of writing to this so good for my brain, I think.
The afternoon raced by and I felt compelled to buy something else to earn my space at the table, although there was no competition. I headed over and asked for a cup of tea. They had all sorts of fancy fruit teas but no actual regular, or Earl Grey tea. Instead, I purchased a sparkling fruit juice thing, claiming to be 'Pineapple and Pink Grapefruit Premium Soda'. I double-checked that I was still ok to work there, as I had been there for some hours now, and the lady assured me that I was, despite angry signs to the contrary.
I went back to my table and cracked open my fancy drink and poured it out. I took a sip. It tasted like pot pourri combined with what a Flash speed mop wet cloth would taste like, with an aftertaste of shoe polish. My face contorted. The lady came over to me - 'are you ok?' she questioned, seeing my contorted face. I confirmed that I was. 'You can stay as long as you like, we are closing at 6 o'clock'.
'So I didn't need to buy this horrible drink?'
'No'. She strolled back to the counter.
My day of toiling as a Digital Nomad paid off and I have more than 3,000 words in an actual document - some of them even made a modicum of sense.
Six o'clock beckoned and I packed up my things and wandered back towards my little room, feeling quite proud of myself. I can be quite productive at times.
The quiche energy had gone and I was feeling quite hungry. I came across a tiny Mexican place - the obvious place to go when in Romania - just around the corner from my hostel, so went inside and ordered some tacos. They were delicious. The chef came out to chat to me - he's from Pakistan and has moved here from Dubai fairly recently.
Back in my little room, I got organised for tomorrow as I'm off to Dracula's castle!
Hope you all have a good sleep.
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