Mon February 27th 2023
Lenin
I reach the café de l’Odeon, finding it with the same marbles and the same atmosphere as I left it slightly more than one hundred years ago. My name is even celebrated among those who sat down at the table, drinking champagne while plotting the most amounting revolution in human history. People are still taking place here, perhaps dreaming of other tumults in remote and exotic countries. In the local newspapers the main subject is the gay pride. Apparently Stalin and many others of his entourage persecuted homosexuals. I cannot really recall my position. Perhaps it was not relevant in 1917 or it was just a concern of the clergy. Indeed the young Stalin pretended to want to study to become a priest. I am however proud of the contemporary leftists who managed to hide the official position of the Party. They now claim that conservatives are the most hateful gay-mongers. About Stalin’s position I do not doubt it. At least Marxism is the legitimate heir of Hegel and, more remotely, of the Reform. Martin Luther was not such a brilliant mind. He was affected by antisemitism as well. If it had not been the creativity of the Russian people, and my acumen, maxims would have never conquered the streets of Moscow and the Red Army would have never reached Berlin. Marxist, in the strictest sense of the word, can just understand word by word exactly what they read. Provided they can read or want to read. To most of them, it is sufficient to hear the slogans quoted by their comrades and repeat them like robots. It is the trick of good school pupils, adored by the teacher, but with a lower IQ than the average. It was me, and only me, who made out of a bunch of boring and stupid books, the most powerful movement of the XX century. Coming back to homosexuality, by the way, I cannot really remember. Both Marx and I wrote so much that our writings can contain any possible statement about any possible topic known at the time. It is not even worth looking for a reference. Let’s enjoy my drink and give a look at the NZZ. Given the prices applied, I should at least take advantage of free newspapers.
The Art Dealer
The meeting takes place tomorrow and I have still got to set up the contract. Some lines are not so clear and the legal office does not want many responsibilities. It is all on my side and I am not really sure. I have gotten so accustomed to making buyers and sellers uncomfortable that I do not know how to react when I am on the weak side. Perhaps I shall have to agree, they sent me out without too much support just to get rid of me and make a generous present to the other company. At least it is what I am expecting. There should be no other rationale behind that. Small sharks are doomed in front of the bigger ones. It would be interesting to find out whether in real life sharks truly kill each other. Taschen published a book about sharks. My ex-girlfriend wanted it for her birthday. She had been always attracted by good looking sharks, she said. I felt cool at the time. Perhaps it's better to take a drink and not care. Perhaps I will also find someone to date on Tinder. I wish she were a local, someone well settled, with a good apartment and a comfortable bed. I do not really intend to sleep in the EasyJet Hostel in the Zwinglistrasse. I have been there already twice and it me me claustrophobic. I am wondering if also the apartments in the area manage to create the same neurosis. With the train from the airport I have given a look inside the lofts with a direct sight on the railways. They must be expensive. Someone told me that private sales and exhibitions are organized there from time to time. If it were the case, I should find out the names of the owners and I can conclude a good deal for sure. I check the time , it is very late and I cannot really afford to further deprive my body of the minimum amount of sleep, otherwise tomorrow I will underperform. My failure can be worse than what was expected by my boss. Provided that my conjecture is correct and I have been really sent as cannon fodder to sacrifice myself for the company. Or, better to say, to cover the failures of someone above me. Let’s try to sleep and forget about the details. To persevere further on my thoughts, it will not help anymore. Let’s dream about easy girls and clients.
The consultant of undefined age and experience
The teatime was excellent, as well as the restoring bath in the spa of the hotel. A luxury that I am going to forget quite soon, once in force from the local company and without the benefits of working and traveling from abroad. It is better not to enjoy the good time with sad anticipation and let’s enjoy the day. I am also still in the rump-up phase and I could afford some free time before the very start of my engagement. People are quite busy all around me, some are leaving complaining about some bad treatment, others are furious because of some last minute problems due to a proper analysis. I just hope to be able to maintain myself kind and considerate when I have the lead. I also do not forget that I must set up some way to increase my network both in the company and the outside world. It will not be easy, because everybody is nice, but you really need to find something they are luring to enter the inner circle. This evening I shall be out to explore the place, I am not already acquainted with the town and if I need to be successful and establish here, I need at least to know what are the key gatherings. Those attended by bankers and consultants at least, because the places for real estate dealers or small size entrepreneurs are not fit to me. I cannot afford to invest millions in apartments with lake views. I am also a full time employee, which does not look so good in the eyes of those who have got the habit of managing their small company. They are two different environments, seldom if not ever communicating. Just parallel lines. Both of us are striving for getting our hands on a big sack of money, but they are focusing on the net margins, quite huge indeed, obtained by trading with the final client. I also need to reach out to the final client, but in my case it is too large to afford to tackle it individually. I would be just satisfied with a small margin of a huge cake to be divided with many other thousands. The cake is so big that in the best case my revenues can easily exceed those of a small shop. It is not so easy, thus I need to work hard and never allow my brain to cease to work. Even the gin tonics so beloved by people like me, can be dangerous. They mentioned an Odeon Cafe, and I will be satisfied to have a beer.
