DRAY BOSMA

This week, after five months of working from home, I finally went back to the office in Amsterdam to work for two days. The strict corona rules are pretty much history (and let’s keep it that way!) and I’ve experienced by now that it’s good to be among people again. To speak to my colleagues in real life instead of a chat or a meeting through Teams. There are those who go very well by living alone, but I am not one of those.

Although I sometimes think otherwise, especially when I travel by public transport from home to work, and back again. The behavior of some fellow travelers makes me wish I should travel alone. Only the lonely. Maybe it’s because of the two years of lockdowns and other strict rules, or maybe it’s because I’m now fifty-five years old, and this ‘golden boy’ just can’t handle the behavior of others very well anymore.

Many people live in their own world, and by that world I mean the screen of their phones. People watching movies or playing games. On the train, I don’t find that strange. You can’t go anywhere until you arrive at your destination. It becomes different when people on bikes, or while walking, are constantly looking at their phone screens. The number of times I had to warn people not to bump into me cannot be counted on one hand.

Maybe I did end up becoming that kind of disgruntled, white and fifty-five-year-old, nagging senior. Old by state of mind, but young at heart forever. I hope.