I was at Ostbahnhof at 07:05, waiting for the S9 to the airport, on my way home to Milan. I lost my phone – only to find it again later.
When it happened, I felt as if someone had suddenly told me that a part of my body had been cut off. That is how dependent we have become on our phones. We can barely function without them anymore. They have become an inseparable part of our bodies, our lives, Isn’t that a sad?
I arrived at the airport, happy that I had found my phone. But it was still so earlythat even the flight information board seemed to be telling me: PLEASE RELAX.
So I tried to obey it and relax, despite the stress I had just gone through after realizing I had lost my phone – which, thankfully, I eventually found in the bottom of my bag haha. But the stress stayed in my body for a couple of hours afterwards. Such a strange, terrible feeling.
After two hours of waiting and forcibly trying to relax, I made it to Gate A33 – exactly the number of years I had turned just seven days earlier.
While waiting, mostly out of boredom, I drank a raspberry lassi. It was so good.
I boarded through the priority line or speedy boarding like speedy Gonzales, which EasyJet had generously charged me for because of my carry-on bag, and found my seat, 19E. Next to me was a very nice young man with such a nice energy.
Out of boredom, I opened my favourite dark chocolate in the whole universe, with inulin and hazels, callled Chocay, which I can only buy in Berlin, Paris or Amsterdam. Whenever I eat it, I genuinely feel heavenly – almost as if I’m levitating. Every time. I don’t know what the secret is, but I suspect the people who make this chocolate must have spent some time in heaven themselves and brought back a secret celestial recipe, carefully hidden inside these 70 grams of bliss.
I offered him some. He took a piece, and we started talking.
and then I realized he was Henrike Naumann’s brother. His name was Joseph.
We talked about her, and about how sad it was that she had left this planet so early, so suddenly. He showed me photographs on his phone of her little daughter Nina and her husband, who is now raising her alone. It touched me so deeply that my eyes filled with tears.
He asked if I was coming to the closing of the Biennale in Venice in November. I said maybe. He told me he would send me an invitation to the official closing ceremony. I thanked him for the beautiful invitation.
Then, once again out of boredom, we started taking snacks out of our bags.
I took out my hummus lentil chips. He had a beautiful raspberry-and-chocolate vegan snack. I took a piece, and because it was rather large, I thought I would give half of it back. But it was so delicious that I had already bitten into it before I realized what I was doing.
“I’m sorry, I can’t give you back the piece I’ve already bitten into.”
We laughed.
and then we landed, still laughing, happy simply to have landed alive.
we exchanged WhatsApp numbers and stayed in touch. He told me he was going to Lugano to visit friends, and then to Rome.
we got onto Metro Line M4 together, and somewhere halfway, our paths separated. He got off at one station to catch a train to Switzerland. I continued toward home, toward Gioia.
