43 minutes overdue

Day one and a half, this place starts getting crowded.

From behind a booth you could almost observe this small city pass by. Sadly you're way too busy to make it a full-time activity. You can't avoid noticing some things, though. So, in order of appearance, here are today's highlights:

1) A dozen outlook contacts finally have a face;

2) The guy at the telephone shop looks at me suspiciously. He must think somebody who just asked him the 10th sim card in barely a couple of days must have a bomb hidden underneath his coat, and it's most probably going to use a phone to detonate it (he just can't decide which number he should use);

3) I've spotted 11 people who obviously had absolutely nothing to do (since I was actually working I could have missed some);

4) There's a modified bike going around for apple distribution;

5) The enormous success of the gender bags - picture: box full of colorful bag-in-a-bag's, people passing by, person asking "may I take 3, two for my other friends?", the same person asking "by the way, what's this?";

6) To whom it may concern in IUCN comms team: our 250cm-high-banner has an african guy watering a non-endemic, water-intensive tree on it. More specimens to be seen on the background;

7) Strange as it may seem, you start recognizing faces;

8) The enormous success of the gender bags/2 - picture: guy carrying around publications a normal human being couldn't read before COP 22 (to be held at the Everest Base Camp due to sea-level rise). "uh, finally something to stuff this stuff in";

And it's only 4 pm.

I'm now getting spiritually ready for my next task. Divide what was once together. Join what was once divided. In other words, I have to restaple 250 REDD position papers. Ah, the beauty of small, serial, repetitive gestures.

Every now and then I get a thrill behind my back. As if something was really going to happen soon, as if we were all in the right place. If not now, when?

The content of this entry does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN. We have designated spokepersons for that.