I haven't written Blablacar stories for a long time, but I still use this app when I travel, and my book of Blablacar stories in English is still available on Kobo and Amazon (but, of course, no one buys it).
For this trip at 6 in the morning, I doubted there would be fellow travelers. The route is not popular. But in the late evening, there is a notification - a young guy wants to travel to that distant city.
Of course, Kyiv is beautiful at such a time in the morning. We cross the southern bridge, but I already drank coffee in the morning, so I stop for my next coffee not there, but at WOG near Boryspil. We listen to a podcast and talk. The guy is 22 years old, but he has been working for a long time. He tells a long and thrilling situation with the illness of his father, who is now far away in another country.
He is traveling to the city to see a girl whom he has never seen, but has been communicating with her for a year and a half. She is depressed, he worries that she might do something to herself. Therefore, he makes a sudden decision to come to visit her. She doesn't know, it will be a surprise. All that is known is that the coffee shop where she works is located within a five-minute radius of Nova Poshta, where he sent many gifts.
But this particular office of Nova Poshta is the most central, there are many cafes there. I already know some of them, because this is my way of getting to know new cities - visiting coffee shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, bookstores, and museums. He does not know the name of it, all that he has is - one photo. While we are still driving, he looks at the google maps with pictures but finds nothing.
The next day he should go to work, he also discovers that there is a night train that is perfectly timed. When he talks about this depressed girl, I don't have a very good feeling. This girl did not really want him to come, she was afraid for him, because there are many military recruitment representatives in the city. She seemed to be going to see him in Kyiv, but this never happened.
We arrive, he goes to a cafe and is already going to write to her. I'm already on the way to my location - I stop at another, and get coffee and a snack. When I smoke on the street, I see him walking. He tells that everything is bad - she sends him back to Kyiv, says that she cannot meet, and even says that she will return the money for the trip on his card. This is a bad sign. I still wish him success, we agree to speak later.
I am writing to him in the evening, because the situation seems to be clear - she frozed him... I thought that if he is going back by train - then he should not wander around this gloomy (and the weather is gloomy and rainy) and cruel city. I thought it might be worth meeting and inviting him to the company to cheer him up a little, if possible.
-- We didn't meet, I'm going back to Kyiv now, but in principle, everything is not as bad as it could be
-- Then forget about her, there are much better girls in Kyiv) but strange behavior on her part, - I answer
-- But everything will be fine, she should come herself, God willing
Of course, everything can change. She said that there were visitors, and her managers were there. But it is hard to imagine it on a Sunday morning when the streets and establishments around were empty. Most likely, nothing can be fixed. Why not meet if he has traveled through hundreds of kilometers. Hundreds of kilometers for her sake, because he was concerned about her condition so that she would not suddenly do anything with herself, he wanted to support her in depression. But she refused.
This cruel city rejected him. Perhaps he is one of the last remaining romantics in this consumerist society. Well, as he says - not everything is as bad as it could be - she could block him. This happens sometimes. But after all, this cruel, cold city did not accept him and he had to return. Now, when I wander the streets of this city, I will remember this story and maybe I will find this coffee shop somehow, but it could also be fabrication...
