There are some crazy people in Prague. I was sitting on the tram the other day, and I took notice of a man sitting at the front of the car when he coughed up something on the tram floor, and then rubbed it in with his foot. Taking a look at this man, I saw that he was scratching something on his ankle. And it was bleeding. The blood was running down his leg. His socks were black, so I couldn’t see if they were blood soaked, but they must have been, because the blood was running out of his sock and down his shoe. After a few stops, he got up and left.
Another day, I saw a man (sitting on the tram) having an intense conversation with a man sitting across the isle. Looking closer, I noticed that the man who was talking (very animatedly, by the way) was crazy, and the guy he was talking to was not actually talking, or listening, but was, in fact, a stranger who was staring straight ahead, trying not to attract the crazy man’s attention. It wasn’t working. When his conversation buddy got up to leave, the crazy man shook his hand and thanked him for the conversation. My friend said, "That guy's a heroin addict."
And, yet another time, I was waiting at a tram stop with some friends (why do these stories always involve the trams, I wonder…) and a drunk, crazy, and possibly Italian guy came up to us and started cursing, in English, at inanimate objects. He took our nervous laughter as a sign of friendship, and when we got on our tram, he got on too. The tram ride was short, and our new friend spent most of the ride talking to himself rather than us. When we got off, we said goodbye, and he followed us. As soon as the tram drove away, he started peeing in the street. We took the opportunity to disappear into a restaurant. In the restaurant, as we’re getting ready to sit down, I see our buddy walk by the window. Oh no… Slowly count down. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… And in he comes. He opens the door, yells, “My friends!” to the frightened waitress while gesturing toward us, and then leaves. We never saw him again.
What’s with the people in this town?
4 comments:
I've seen almost all of these things in NYC...and I'd like to add a story about Kathleen being subject to seeing a homeless man waving his penis around and shouting on the subway, to which a guy responded, "What the fuck man, there's fuckin children around here! Fuck!"
Actually, I take it back, I've never seen a homeless guy urinate and then walk inside the restaurant. I've only seen the urinating part.
These things are to be expected in NYC. Prague is much smaller and must have a higher weirdo/regular ratio.
Maybe you're the weirdo for NOT urinating in public or screaming at strangers. Maybe you should acclimate yourself to the local custom a bit more.
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