09-VIII-2024.
On the evening of second Carp called, just like that, to have a longer chat. He was really happy to hear that we're grandparents the seventh time, „well you're a czar!“. Said he recently met with Fefi's widow, whom he mentioned by a softened version of [her] name so it took me some time to recognize.
On Telegram we see Sanda and Linda about three times a week, whenever Alisha comes later, or so does Rein. Now the „guess in which hand“ got old already, so they remembered Owlie, a sock puppet owl that one dons on a palm and then they play talk with it. The baba has more imagination there than I do, so it's mostly her hand. The deck is done, and now they go out into the yard often, specially Violet. Raja also appears onscreen often, to at least peek into the screen. He's getting bored and he's already too old to play with them, they have fewer common subjects now.
With Go we spoke on seventh, says Stanley is in some funk, them being forced to move soon is messing with his plan to change nothing, so he's all good for nothing. But they at least started searching, and estimating which way will the current housing bubble burst, whether they'd lose more by buying something or by leaving the money to sit...
Lena has the same problems every young mother has, Tanja is not a power sucker, the nipple gets clogged, then she gets it unstuck but then the baby doesn't like it because it was easier from the bottle... And she won't sleep during the day. Various personnel give her contradictory advice - that the baby must sleep on her back, or on the side, and on dozen other issues. And all of them say „you will not do wrong if you do so“. She feels the next one who tells her that may end up being thrown through the window, fifteenth floor. Milan said „just ask mom“. And from that side the advice is „well put her to sleep belly down... we had a pediatry professor, some guy from Botoš, old school, and he said that all animals sleep prostrate, and why would we be better or differently built“. Worked on first try, slept like a pidgeon suckling. Progresses nicely, as we saw on the photo.
Yesterday she sent us a 40 seconds video of Tanja in hiccups, moving [her] hands around [her] face, a sweetie sweetie... I guessed she's two moves from learning how to stuff a thumb in her mouth. Nope, learned already, almost scraped her skin.
On seventh I finally had a reason to swing to downtown - my new card arrived at NLB(kb) (not NLJB, because lj is not a character in slovenian, they actually even pronounce l and j separately). Of course I rode the bike, why would I waste the čorba and pay parking to pick a piece of plastic, and finding a parking spot is a doubtful endeavour during the Days of beer. Both big parking[ lot]s (on Žitni trg and behind gimnazija) are now repurposed for the duration. Of course I didn't meet anyone I knew, just two guys waved me, I guess the guy who did the UTP wiring this winter and the engineer from the dairy, who actually lives next street, less than 100m from us as the crow flies, whom I see every few years. I had to wait a tad longer, such luck when picking a window to wait at, but turned out quite well, as the chick was exactly what I pegged her for, seemingly strict but then a real pal when she starts to speak. And my opening line was good, I put my card and ID on the desk, said „old... new... that is, got a message that I got a new card, and my account was blocked couple of months ago because my ID expired, well here's the new one... As for the long form which I should have filled, I don't know how could I use it to prove that I'm not financing terrorism or it me. How can I know whether the state retirement fund is a terrorist orgnization or not, don't know anybody there, what do I know, maybe they are. Likewise, on the other side, Lidl and gas stations, also can't know...“. So she filled it onscreen, and unblocked my account, and then said that the card has indeed arrived but I can't have it, because it's the optional Master card, but she is not allowed to issue it without the base Dina card, which will arrive in due time. Which I'll just yank away like I did with the first one, didn't even bother to look at its pin, don't know where I put it. Don't know what's the use of it and who's profiting of it, don't want to mention the prime minister, former, and her brother. At least I picked 100.000 dinars on the spot, without bothering to wear out the serekeš, „for two months we lived on wife's card, my turn to return the treat now“. Eh, the life on fixed income...
Dropped by MTS to check whether we're on the 'do-not-call' list. We are. Okaaaaay.
Then I got six more sms messages telling me a card arrived for me at the bank. Same message as before.
She finally reminded herself to call Eržika, check up on her. Obviously all okay as long as they didn't call us, haven't visited her since this winter, didn't have to. Says she's trying to walk again a little, with a stroller. Now they come to bathe her too, both the cunt and the ass, so she feels it a bit awkward. As the professor said to the student who wore a dopičnjak for the exam, „that's to be washed, not aired“. Magi is okay, she says, visited this spring but just for five days, can't stay longer as she can't find anyone among her neighbors to look after her dog for longer than that. We can't get it through our heads, why is she still sittng there, paying the rent, had to learn to drive to go get groceries, her retirement is coming from here, there she inherited husband's retirement, and still has to do odd jobs here and there (guess hotel laundry, help to older women). With her current income she could live here like a czar, feed five mongrels if she wants, and have near zero cost, owns half a house and will inherit mom's apartment too. There must be some other factor of which we know not.
To the garden we went once at the beginning of the month, and today. A bit of everything, much of nothing, but now that I totalled the crop it turns out we already brought 300kg of various fruit and vegetables so far.
We drink about every other evening, and we managed even to skip one when she didn't get enough sleep the night before, and once when the rib gave her pain. But it's easing now. We're in the swing and it just flows, the overyester night we downed half a liter of tutifruti, but it seems that we aren't drinking for drink's sake, but rather to have a reason to sit more and just talk, feeling fine and not feeling like hitting the hay yet.
Finished rewatching the „Expanse“ and if it doesn't look so new and mighty like it did the first time, it's still very well done, at least five times better than Stari Drek. Of the latter's last season I watched first six and last ten episodes, and skipped the ten episodes in the middle. Of „Expanse“ I skipped only the middle season which happens on Ilus, where I [watched] only the beginning and the finale. Šore Agdašlu is the world record in name transcription, in english she has five aitches of which none are pronounced as aitches (Shohreh Aghdashloo). This week I'm watching „Moonhold“, a series of only six episodes, stuffed with so much SF which can't be found elsewhere, all based on an utopia which was put in practice (on the Moon), where all the populace mastered the wisdom and deep insight into things at a level of a hundred years old guru, where nothing is in blue steel colors, everything is made of wood (even the invisible electronics is in wooden frames). One critic even wrote that „it's all in primary colors“, because it's so far away from them grayblue steel (in „Expanse“ it at least has the gritty and greasy look), while the colors are actually just a bit more lively and not particularly garish, but the Amers are not used to that. Too bad they cut it so short, there's enough plot for several years more, but then there's no audience for this kind.
Yesterday we distilled another 7,8 liters of tutifruti, of which 0,8 originates in dad's evaporated loza, which is not potable anymore, but why discard its good parts. As the saying goes, programmers' errors get fixed and can be erased without a trace; doctors' errors get buried and the errors in rakija are redistilled.
Today we, as it were, went to the garden again, even shorter than usual, just picked what we found. The gate door is opening even harder now, kicked it with my foot six times and it didn't open, so we walked over the felled wall and through the jungle. Will carry a crowbar from now on. The storks seem to have gone already, and the swallows are gathering on the wires, seems the pilot school is in session now.
I thought we'd go to Days of beer in the evening, but she decided to simmer a batch of sauce for pizza and spaghetti, having collected as much tomato meanwhile. Not as much from the garden, there's a raw sorrow, not a drop of rain since 22nd of july, and to activate the watering pump we'd have to sit there while it works, mnyahh. Here in the backyard is better, not glorious though, the green beans wilted dry, habanero blosoms and then drops its flowers, drinks water like crazy and bears no fruit, but the tomato rose almost two meters tall and bore nice fruit, at least for that sauce. So we didn't go there that day, but rather on saturday.
The gigs on the squares begin not before nine, and that's the opening acts for the main guys, so we decided to take off around eight. Just when we were about to get up and go, my mobile rings, Bajlo. He just talked with Dragana, and heard we have a seventh grandchild, and my birthday is coming soon so to congratulate me on both, and he's also having a new notch in the belt - he's a granduncle once more. Apart from that he quickly stumbled through few more news items, rather disjointed and unrelated except that each player was so-and-so related to someone, which he never fails to add, even the guy who was supposed to tow him when „some spike jumped out in the transmission, horrible noise all of a sudden, but I got home“... We walked out after that and I shot an update of the landscape, crescent moon in its last phase, nice walk and even a light breeze. We made it okay except we didn't find a place to sit along the way, could do it at Braca's kiosk but didn't think it on time, and after that there was just three corners to the target.
On the Žitni the usual chaos, and the fake Moskva (v. 08-VIII-2023.) at about the same place where it was last year, and the genuine one where it always was, but we weren't [eager] for food, having dined on our usual dose of eggs (with finely minced bacon, sunny side up for me, folded omelet for her, of three eggs each, a milestone I thought I'd never pass, having two eggs was always enough for me, but this summer I got lucky, so it's eggs every odd evening). The noise was undeshittable, even with only one set of amps thundering at the moment, it seems we were late for the first part of the emisija, so it's just rhythms now*, i.e. some authentic dance bullshit for those that can endure it. So we crossed the Žitni in long strides, whistling ourselves through the crowd and took a left turn right after the bridge into Gimnazijska, avoiding the rest of the crowd. Sat in front of the „Biblioteka“ („Library“), they had dark Kozel... and then we surrendered ourselves to the light breeze, to dry us slowly. Because my shirt stuck to my front and back.
Sat there almost two hours. Some two guys were tuning their amps, likewise quite loud, one mike one synthesizer, and tested it by performing two songs, standard contemporary pop with badly assembled verses, well can't expect them to be better than how they otherwise speak, but when the guy went to repeat the first stanza, it came to my mind to listen to the actual words... „you're like nicotine, in my veins you are, I need a hit, and if it's a cigarette that you need, there's a whole pack in my heart“. Well, not shabby at all.
We notice the crowd has outgrown the mobile. Ten years ago it was quite normal to see four [people] around a table, each looking at his own screen. No more, now it tapered down to talking on the run, i.e. one talks while walking or when responding to a call, but once they sit together, the phone is taken out only when they want to show something to others or to check some datum.
We took a lower table by the wall, of which only two or three remained, all other tables require barstools, and the third row, in the middle of the pavement, ha none, that's for standing. So I had a good vantage point to the below of the next table, where four of them were sitting, two of which were permanent and other two place occupied by rotating visitors. The main persona in that group was looking quite well for her age, approaching fifty but not clear from which side, long slit skirt gradually slipping off from her thigh, spitting image of a sponzoruša with staž, embracing also the freshly fat guy who sat there first, and then with this oldster, and then also with other arrivals. The fat guy seems to be the owner of the tavern, all three waiters would drop by his table to consult with him. The beer is 390 dinars, even more expensive than in Sokobanja (but food is much cheaper there). In the house across there's a new chinese restaurant („Chinese and serbian dishes“), we'll have to try it out once, hoping that their chinese menu isn't americanized. I thought we'd give it a quick try, but then saw the Chinese roll down the shutters, and we the second beer.
The toilet in „Biblioteka“ is minimalistic, wait in a queue. Next after me were some two chicks, really nice, and one of them was the nicest disarming smile I've seen all evening, well the city is full of chicks, one prettier than the other... but no matter, that's you spruced up to go out, and this one of mine was prettier in your age on any ordinary day, and I can't imagine any of you turn out to look so sexy while digging a basement...
So we finished the second beer, and walked to the main square. The cops now go in threes (trojka, same word as triad) (one knows how to read, second how to write, third to operate a digital camera, same blackshirts like žardinjerija, wouldn't know one from the other had they not a large IJP - interventna jedinica policije - on their backs), but they had nothing to do here, this is a show attended by kids, oldsters and young couples with children. Bajaga, amazingly, started playing on time, visibly much more sober than on 31-VIII-2018., with obviously wrong pick of songs to play. At some point Žika came in in his voice, it's Bajaga singing, as if not singing, but again singing, took him down better than the original, but I saw we won't see Žika in the front, nor will any of our songs be played, so about face, to Žitni, to see that Artan Lili, who jumped in because Goblini couldn't make it („no flights from Beirut to Serbia available“ (!)). Along the way I saw that Gigatron has vacated their part of Nama, that the Ha Bank (Alpha, but the lights on the first part died ages ago) has also left the building, and that the Volta (the other part of Nama, across the street), where Simpo was for decades, has finally found someone to move in - some pottery or other stylish thing, but only in the right wing, which still leaves most of the ground floor and all of upstairs empty. Well, now if I need any electronic bit, my choices are the metal potters in Roda, or Medeia. I really don't feel like going to the other end of town for just one cable or some such.
So we arrived at Žitni again, and passed the main crowd from the left, came close enough to the stage, and saw the Artan Lili... which on the given sample turned out to be some raggae in ijekavian. And I thought they were a zrenjanin band... Later it turned out they were a quartet from Belgrade, as the wikipedia would have us believe, but I counted seven of them on the stage. The singers look good... and that's about it, the bass is stripping yer kidneys off, here everyone thinks they need so many watts to cover the whole square so they're properly heard within the 50m in front of the stage, because two more sets on the square share the same opinion, so if you sit in a wrong place, you'll have an epic battle of sound artilleries in your head. We didn't stay for the whole first song, just needled ourselves through the crowd and exited in the direction of cabs, caught one and went home. By midnight we poured ourselves one, didn't do much, went to sleep.
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* radio Novi had an emisija called „melodies and rhythms“ which played music without announcements, so I never found out which song belonged in which slot.
Mentions: 31-VIII-2018., Bajaga i Čorba, 08-VIII-2023., Braca, čorba, dopičnjak, Dragana Vitas (Dragana), emisija, Ferenc Farkaš (Fefi), gimnazija, Gorana Sredljević (Go), Jelena Sredljević (Lena), Linda Sredljevich Aquilla (Linda), loza, Margita Gunaroši (Magi), Milan Nastić, Nenad Bajlo (Bajlo), Novi Sad, Reinaldo Aquila (Rein), Ryu (Raja), Sanda Sredljević Aquilla (Sanda), serekeš, sponzoruša, Stanley Berger, staž, Tanja Nastić, Tasa Radenkov (Carp), tutifruti, Violet, žardinjerija, Žitni, in serbian
9-VIII-2024 - 16-VII-2026