06-VIII-2019.

Overyester went downtown for something, rode a bike, no clue why, perhaps just a joyride. Didn't bring any shooter, so when it occurred that at the light by the cemetery this spaček was right behind me, there was no other way but to pull out the nokla from [my] pocket and aim it. Asked, in mimic, the driver whether it was okay, he nodded and... there's the shot.

BTW, mom died eight years ago. Nobody mentioned, I just remembered, silently. But then when I went for my morning bike ride, I passed by the cemetery and waved to the spot where their grave is, said hi.

Just to think of it, I kind of always had a bike and was a biker. It's normal here. The first one I had from, I'd say, age 6, when I learned how to ride it, till about age 11 when it was kind of hard to repair anymore. Then I was pedestrian until june 1978, when I finished the studying in Novi - grandma financed the next one (black, nice, three-speed gear shift in the hub) and that bike served me almost ten years - I went to work with it all the time, except when the sand from the road dirt would get into the hub and gradually kill the gears, then I used her yellow or even her old red bike. Some time in 1987 I gave up on these and bought a new bike, outside gear, six-speeder. Ran perfectly, I was the king of the road (until 1999). Had some weird format of tires, hard to find, easy to punch. Now for the last nine years I had a bike again but didn't use it much. That's a 20 year break and I want back in the saddle now.

So I went to the store where she and Lena bought it nine years ago; it's next to Jasmina's former pharmacy. But since the road by the cemetery leads to the square where Lesnina is, I met Dragana and she invited me to a coffee. Heard some news - Bajlo got psoriasis on his head, so his scalp is spotty, thinks it may look better if shaved. Which brought the subject of Vlasta, who had it all over his body - the latest is that he's not divorced, but they live in separate parts of the house, and he'd gotten enamored with some much younger chick and she lived with him for a while, then he got out of it. And is heavily religious to the point of being obnoxious. „And you were right, by the way, not as much that I have forgotten that I've ever worked, but that feeling that there was something I had to do right now... how fast it evaporated, it's one miracle“. I had recorded this on my phone, accidentally, there are fourteen minutes of mostly traffic and rubbing of the phone against the pocket, but this part until the point when I wanted to check the time around 10:00 is also included, and this sentence is clearly audible.

Along the way met Panta, he's got a gig on 30th... well, if that's the day we go, then it is.

Left the bike at the shop and was myself left with two hours to kill. Circled the big marketplace twice, found nobody, bought two small things that we really need. Went on to make a circle down the magistrala, met a guy from IV3, busy having majstors in the house and going out to get them some supplies (from the market, not any shop, though several serious shops have only stalls). He asked where he can buy Vanji's wine.

At least one of these was in my hands while in the club, cca 1973.

At least one of these was in my hands while in the club, cca 1973.

Eventually walked into the photo studio just on the other end of that line of shops (it's the bike shop, a concept caffe (whatever that means), then the ex pharmacy, then this) which was a partnership between a guy from DC-99, now retired, and the other guy, still in the shop. And he kind of recognized me, and there were three other guys in there, just sitting and chatting. Turns out I knew one of the guys but not until late in conversation did I get how do I remember him. Because hair is shorter and the beard is whiter, and he was always the dark guy - and the connecting story didn't go over where we met, but something about "where did your wife work" - he's the son of another sanitary inspector, who retired in 1988. I knew the guy from her stories, mentioned the legendary "each year of high school was a big sack of beans and nothing else" story. And he mentioned later that he's seen me dozens of times in both DBA and Avai, still no connection in my head, even after he mentioned the name of his company. While I was recounting the names of people in DBA for the benefit of other three, someone said "but Števa just died... the obituary was in the papers". Wow... and I was somehow thinking of visiting him, now that I have the time.

And then, gradually it dawned on me who this guy was. He was the other negotiator, Jevrem, 30 years ago (04-X-1989.), with Mika Fišer, when we were preparing to publish that tourist guide of the city. And his father was the other sanitary inspector with just high school (and perhaps a few crash courses on top) but with graduate's salary. The famous Dragutin who finished high school on a sack of beans per year - that's what food his parents could afford to send him off with.

Then I had a hunch that my two hours were up, took my leave and went to the shop. It was 12:58. I scare myself sometimes with those time things.

Mentions: 02-IX-1985., 04-X-1989., 17-III-2023., 09-II-2025., Avai, DBA, DC-99, Dragana Vitas (Dragana), Dragutin Jakšić, IV3, Jasmina Vlajin, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), Lesnina, majstor, Nenad Bajlo (Bajlo), nokla, Novi Sad, Panta, Pinova vila, Radovan Fišer (Mika Fišer), sekendica, spaček, Stevan Garaj (Števa), Vilmoš Baranji (Vanji), Vlasta Čkuljić, in serbian

14-VIII-2019 - 16-VII-2026