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Patrick Ross was the most interesting of my various, all to brief aquaintences. A burnt-out violin prodigy , with an oversized goatee. He teaches music in Vermont, and is, from my observations a borderline alcoholic. He disapeared sometime on a friday night, after babbling drunkenly in french canadian (which he speaks fluently) for an hour. As expected, I didn´t see him again.

Euskal Herreria

James Taylor
2006-08-23 12:34:20

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Patrick Ross was the most interesting of my various, all to brief aquaintences. A burnt-out violin prodigy , with an oversized goatee. He teaches music in Vermont, and is, from my observations a borderline alcoholic. He disapeared sometime on a friday night, after babbling drunkenly in french canadian (which he speaks fluently) for an hour. As expected, I didn´t see him again.

There is a strange complicity that often develops among longer term travellers, an unconscious understanding that goes beyond the norms of conventional social conduct. Often a complete stranger will become your most loyal companion or most trusted friend, within the space of a few hours. Inevitably, as is the general idea when travelling, one of you moves on. Maybe email adresses are exchanged, or vague plans to meet up are discussed, but the unspoken agreement is that the association is a temporary one, and you probably won´t see them again.

This was hard to get used to at first and I became to attached. I felt like I was floating along, making the briefest impression, but ultimatly to be forgotten; maybe given longer, that impression would have become something more substantial, a permanent dent perhaps; but as
things remained, these relationships were nothing more than transient. But, I hardened, and began to understand that such affiliations exist precisely because they are temporary; and that they are born largely out of a situational need for companionship, that isn´t present back home.

It is easy to open up to a complete stranger if you know you will never see them again. Nothing is riding on the relationship. It has no future, so the "pressure is off", so to speak. Though these friendships mean nothing long term, their importance is not to be underestimated. I have found myself speaking to people who I have known for maybe less than 2 hours, with a familiarity that would seem surprising in another context; and similarily they have often responded ...