My Moleskine today...

Had a few hours to kill this afternoon, while waiting for my son.
It started raining as soon as we arrived to the spot we were heading. After leaving my son, I decided to take shelter at a café, to draw a little. I didn't really know what to do with all that time I had ahead of me, but finally it ended up not being a big problem. Time flew.
It took just a few minutes before an american sat down beside me, looked at me drawing and started a conversation. A long conversation with a few interesting parts. I was telling myself, I'm talking to a stranger, what I usually avoid.
I've changed attitude a bit. Lately I try to be more open towards others, to see if it changes the everyday routine for better. Let's say to give more "looseness" and surprises into it. You never know, sometimes you could meet a new friend, only by starting a conversation. A few years ago I spontaneously talked to a now very special person, and he became one of my best friends!
Never mind now, after an hour or so, this american suddenly stood up explaining that he had to leave (!!), his wife was waiting for him in the hotel around the corner. (The poor wife must have been wondering where her husband went for so long!).
Finally I could go back concentrating on other people around me, and on what I was supposed to do.
I find it very interesting to hear about someone else's life in a foreign country, where habits and rules are not the ones we're used to. They often talk about what they like and hate or what surprises them in a city like Paris or a country like France. But lately above all, the subject is the crisis, and their struggle trying to create that decent life, even when they are educated and have a decent job. The "life" most of us are "programmed" to strive for, to gain happiness and respect.
When this man sat down beside me, I was actually drawing a bunch of homeless men sitting a bit further away. A contrast to his conversation, as more and more of those "who didn't make it", are nowadays laying around in the streets in Paris, without shelter.