END OF THE LINE - Cechovo námestí

on 04-04-2007 04:04

Published in : , Prague

There were so many ideas about what might happen at Čechovo náměstí, end of the line for tram No. 4, that it required two trips to find out not much does. The first was a field trip, and the three of you shuffled your feet before scuffing your shoes down to Koh-i-noor, a block away, though it’s just a stop on other lines, so nothing is conclusive there, either. There’s a shop for art supplies and a shop slinging esoteric wares and a 24-hour Tesco down the road for whatever else you could possibly want whenever else you could possibly want it.

You don’t draw more than stick fingers, and you don’t put faith in cards, and you get all itchy when you catch yourself in the hypermarkets, surrounded by too many people and all brands of goods, caught by a dozen cameras under a million humming lights. So the three of you went to the restaurace U Waldensky, on Vršovická, where as a group you decided that as a group you’d decide what to do next as a group. But groups and the decisions that come from consensus are really such hassle, so you didn’t decide, just drank 12º 27 Kč Gambrinus, one after the other. And was it euthanasia or anesthesia? The fatal dose or just enough to get you through the last of the days that are still coldish and sometimes far too wet?

It’s a question that didn’t apply to you so much-after all, you were there on official business or reprieve from the weather or whatever-as the other men there, occupying the half-dozen or so tables in the bar area, one to a spot that could easily fit five. They drank their beers and studied their shoes while you chitted and chatted and plotted new plans. And you left, the three of you, eventually, buzzed but not broken. And they stayed, the rest of those guys.

On your second trip, you went to one of the neighboring stores that sells springish supplies and bought a bike pump. The weather was warmish, after all, and you really couldn’t justify drinking beer unless it was in the sun, so you bought a bottle and found a bench on náměstí Svatopluka Čecha. Was it euthanasia or euphoria? Nothing so dramatic, just another beer at Čechovo náměstí, end of the line for tram No. 4.