22-XI-1974.
We arrived at the Glavni kolodvor on time, somehow followed the instructions (which must have included taking a tram) to Lajna's gimnazija, where we somehow managed to find her during the first recess - which would be between 8:45 and 8:50. She asked her classmaster to let her off for the rest of the day, because she's got guests from Vojvodina. The classmaster, a middle aged, strict looking comrade, said "you'll just invent anything", though she could see the invention.
At the time, I was wearing my railroad-style coat (that I wore the previous couple of winters as well, it was almost a šinjel, and it was probably already extended by that extra foot of faux mahagony colored fur), split beard Turgenjev style, and my hair was probably as long as it ever was. She may have already made her own coat with colored piping around cuffs and pockets, or was it the next year... I wouldn't know until I dig up the photos.
The weather was typical november - not quite raining, but everything damp, cloudy, a bit foggy, no wind. We went off to the nearest cakeshop and ate chestnut puree... which is sort of proper for the time of the year and the location. Then we visited Milka at work so we'd get the keys to the house (which we actually didn't take), and took a bus to go to Sesvete. Without keys, Lajna somehow squeezed through the bathroom window and let us in. Her father locked the house, she saw that he's been there, there was a divorce going on so he was coming and going. We spent the day more or less in the house.
(the fourth stein is mine, in these light conditions I prefered to use both hands to achieve a stressless shot)
We staged a whole hairwash party - all three of us at the same time, with Milka having the honor of taking the pictures, with my (new?) technique of bounced flash. Works perfectly in a bathroom where the walls are white and near. The flash and the Practica were practically new, as I got them when I finished high school.
The girls exchanged clothes a lot for the duration. My winter cap exchanged heads a lot as well, on almost every picture it's on someone else.
In the evening, took the bus downtown, to some club with music, very crowded, good music and lights, where they had beer, but her gang had some bottle of rum stashed in the bush outside. I blurted something about thirst, including the serbian "sunđer" (sponge), which someone noted as different from croatian "spužva", but Lajna smoothed it out as "hey, these guys are with me". It was only two years after the "Croatian spring", and one never knew when one may have a run-in with a nationalist hothead, but this being the young folks, it never occurred to me that the virus may catch on anyone from the rock generation. Well, these few words were actually the only bit of an raised eyebrow during the whole trip.
What I didn't know until decades later was that Milka was from Srem, therefore Serbian, and that they did have some trouble here and there for being the wrong breed. Not as much at the time, but a lot in the nineties.
We came back by car, I think we hitchhiked. Waiting for a bus which may not have come, it was rather late, and someone picked us up.
Mentions: 13-I-2024., gimnazija, Melanija Merćep (Lajna), Milka Merćep, šinjel, in serbian
24-XII-2015 - 31-X-2025