21-III-2026.
She watches potatoes for three days in the row. That is, on yoochoob she picks tricks and gimmicks how to, with the least effort (specially digging) to get the most crop of potatoes. And she started doing it yesterday - she moved that table of hers, so it won't be by the barbecue anymore, and will make two circles there, about a meter and a quarter across, there tho strew what it takes, and the so-called dead nettle (called differently here, we have it growing around the backyard), lay the potatoes with some soil, and then cover it with hay and more soil and whatnot. The picking is scheduled for early august. Over those circles she erected teepees of five bamboos, where she'll let the green beans climb and make shade. To Juliška's side she lined up six sacks with soil with a couple of potatoes in each, and six more a bit closer, then made three arches, a bamboo on each side, put together with a bit of totraterm tubes (from heating), to cover it with the green netting and to let grow more green beans, let it green. [didn't use hose, but rather a seventh, horizontal bamboo, so it's like a tent now]
The apricots stubbornly bloom. The bees are somewhat sparse, but we saw some smaller insects too, and the woodworkers, we'll see. Knocking on wood a bit too often these days. Aleksa eventually sliced the other klematis too, later. What a cunt of a man. But now let both of them grow clean, afresh.
On the list of state crimes, a novelty: they arrested some students for no reason at all, confiscated their car and two million dinars of donations collected by citizens. No charges were brought up, no reports were filed nor given, didn't tell them the reason for arrest, nothing at all. They released them all, returned the car, kept the money. No paper trail whatsoever.
Power went out at nine, returned in a couple of minutes, the ups held. The internet returned couple of minutes later, on its own. Another powerout at twelve, but no internet this time. We already got down to lunch - beans the third day, and the skin boiled away, soft as a soul, no need for knife nor fork, all by spoon. After lunch she told me to go to the zbor on my own, she's got potatoes. Okay, deal. I lied for a nap, got up at 14:30. The zbor would be at 15:00, but okay, not that there's any official opening ceremony, welcome whenever you come.
The left pedal on the bike coming loose again, but I got there alright. She told me to greet anyone I meet... well, almost nobody. But then I saw some maam calling me, and didn't recognize her. Said she was Blaža's wife, and the guy with her was her kindergarten buddy, Blaža is at home, babysitting the grandchild. Talked some with her, then with some colleague who had an EOS60, and professed a dislike on the times when he has to shoot for money. He prefers to do „minimalist landscapes“. Ah, you mean (and I drew a horizontal line with two fingers, and in the left golden section parked one finger), he said „exactly that“. And when it's foggy. Well sure, but fog is screwy when it's not enough or too much, so I retold the 04-XII-2015.. Then some retired cop hooked up to me, what with the reflective green vest with 'bicikl gerila Zrenjanin' printed in the back. Said he was for drivers' exams and licence issuing most of the time, and that he knew the whole town and all the tractor owners in the villages, and now fuckit, he's 75 and he forgot everything. Even me he seems to know from somewhere, but actually doesn't know me. We just recognized each other as old spikes.
I ate two pogačice, had one good coffee (proper domestic, in camping conditions, didn't have such in a while), picked up a badge of „bicikl gerila“ and pinned it to the strap of my green photo bag, left 4000 in the kitty, I thought I had more cash on me, but then my method of checking is to tap my pocket and judge it by the thickness and not the number of zeros, well this time I had too much small money.
On one stand they were gathering signatures for a class actions against the water mains, because few thousand boilers croaked since the release of the new water. I signed the other list, to start getting emails, because I never know what's held when and where. And about the boilers, I laid out my theory that the new water has fewer ingredients and now it dissolves the old layers, works as a solvent. And if the layers are on the heating body, they won't melt uniformly, they'll crack, and the heater will be cooled far better at the cracks and, well, will crack itself. Yeah, right you are, at my neighbors they had a crapper which was never scrubbed, never saw a brush, it was layered with brown smears from the water, and now it's clean white. If it washed that down, who knows what it did with the boilers, and if it's lacking those components, who knows which ones does it have. And it's so heavily chlorinated some days. And what zzzzz publishes the results for the third of march and we asked for first ten days of the monht - they just liked that day.
While I was looking for someone with a wrench to tighten the bolt on the pedal, Čarga appeared, he's a regular. Nobody had a tubular fourteen, but one guy tightened it somewhat with the toy pliers from his swiss military knife, which held almost halfway to home, and then I tightened it by fingers twice more, just so the bolt doesn't get lost. Got home just fine, did the photos, sent them to the local portal and to girls.
In the morning I saw that sGradlj.com had 6700 views in 24 hours, and that in these three weeks it far surpassed that of first two months taken together. So it comes. It kept until 24th and then quieted down. On the subject of statistics, there were 23 babies and one wedding in the municipality, again. The most curious fact is that the country where I'm read the most is Japan (!). On wensday I had as much as 11888 views, incredible.
On tuesday drove the Joda to the big checkup. It's here five years, it's time. And it didn't turn out too costly, some 63000 altogether, what with change of oil, filters, one engine support (!), third wiper. At least I'm at peace, and it still costs less annually than I thought it would.
On wensday we went together to pick it. The cabbie took the route by the Springfield, and lo, some majstors were inside, is it renovated or on sale or who knows. The cabbie said „when they slammed the spooner* inside, that was a clear message. He's in someone's way“. And the tavern/rođendaonica never saw too much throughput, people would sit for two hours over one coffee. And he also rambled, doing this than that, puts pingpong table then removes, then pool table, then various automats, video games, icecream, all kinds of things, can do pizza can do ćevapčići can do čorba.
Went downtown right away, to buy sandals for Tanja. The Chineses in Nama had sparse choice, one model altogether, serbian made but as ugly as if it was chinese. Went to the other shop by the pedestrian bridge and found a pair there. Domestic likewise, but real leather. And she bought some proper denim, a real surprise - it's got everything, original unmistreated, leaks dye, the weave is right, and hay it has the color - you can't find properly blue blue jeans, they're all drab and graylike.
What a memory... ten days in advance I await Raja's birthday to congratulate him, and on the day I forget. Go remembered first, so then I also added „Pridruzi čestici... čestitci**! 🍰“. In the evening we somehow had a good run with rakija, it's been a while when we could do more after the fourth. In the morning, a shot, the birthday guy blows 15 candles. He's huge, wide shouldered (after fathers, but long limbed after us).
So Joda passed another inspection, all fine. Need to make new batch of window washer fluid. Later in the afternoon Dragana called, said Baki died. What a weird family, every few years someone dies.
On friday evening we swept the three remaining beers (me one, she two, then I 3-4 pears, she one), so along the way we reminisced on Baki, how he was. She still remembers him as he was in gimnazija, there's lots of photos since then, it's not forgotten, how he was tall slim and blonde, and how then he got old the ugliestly of all of us. He was strange to me as well, on some matter being a complete bosančeros, even gross, surly and always attempting to exercise command in the last years over whomever he could or couldn't. But then if he, such as he was, managed to be a strong B student in IV5pp, and fit quite nicely in it, all kudos. He had heavy gaffes, not the least that he was a bankster... and then he holds such a poetry evening to tell us the sad history of his sister (v. 05-III-2018.), incredible.
On saturday she woke me at 11, said Dragana called, noon her place, gathering there. Made me coffee, reheated the lunch, and I managed to wrap it all by noon, and then called Dragana to see who's driving whom. Well, you are. Ah, okay, coming in five. And so I did, they were all waiting in front of Lesnina - in the other car Jasmina, Mima, Mjedac with wife. And then we waited for Borče, who didn't spot them at all and went to wait behind the building, by her entrance. Some drizzle was coming down, I even gave up on clogs and donned my shallow shoes (and socks! maybe fourth time this year), and then drove slowly. Jasmina was trailing me, as I sort of knew the way. Sure, I looked at the village on the map, to see where the cemetery was. And Dragana had instructions too, „turn right at the light. What [do you mean] which light, the one they have“. A stronger village, 4 by 5 streets.
And we got there on time, all fair and square. Jasmina was a bit amazed at me driving so fast, but Dragana said I actually didn't. I just had to skin that one slowpoke in the yellow yugo, who dragged like a gut, just had to show how fast Joda goes from 60 to 110. Of the known [people], there was Bajlo (he's from the next village) and Jozda later joined too. And there was that cuntlife from the second, what with šajkača, who addressed us with 'pomoz' bog' (help, god). Didn't recognize him, he trimmed [his] beard down to 8mm and I let mine grow almost as his once was. Had I recognized him, I'd have ground him off with 'freedom to the people'.
And another character, as per expertations of what demimonde would be there, comes with 'do you remember me', squinting, could almost be a Hungarian but no, not the context. He took of [his] cap, now I knew less. „Did you teach maths?“. Ah, tzar, is it you. I knew exactly who, the Spasić of 25-VIII-1983.. What a time to crop up... „Just the other week I sat with late Baki, sipping something, and he asked me whether I was in your class. Sure was. Yeah, and what mark did you have with him. A four...“ (am. B), with his sly smile I knew by heart. „Shit [me] not“.
The rain didn't strengthen any, wind wasn't much, we kept putting our hoods on and off at times. Dragana even spread her umbrella. By the amount she's lower than me, its spokes were exactly into my eyes, so I took over carrying it. The cemetery, of course, can't be big, the walk was less than 300m, and the priest didn't go overboard, it all went relatively fast. Whle the coffin was lowered, we were a bit away, the terrain was soggy, we stayed on the paved path behind a largish thuja, and by wondrous accident heard only this of his son's speech, „...and some called you a thug... will remain remembered... exited like a gentleman“. We didn't even try to come closer to the grave, just cordially gave the aforementioned cuntface the fuckoff when he tried to blackmail us into staying, by portraying us as the lowest scum if we don't attend the daća, we just walked out and scrammed home. I was at the table at 14:09.
----
* hand bomb with spoonlike safety handle
** for pridrug, v. house dictionary. Čestitka - congratulation; čestica - a particle. „čestici“ is, accidentally, a grammatically proper dative case for both, so to differ, we pretend that the 't' didn't get lost in the transformation called 'equalizing by location of making'
Mentions: 25-VIII-1983., 04-XII-2015., 05-III-2018., Aleksa Pajkov, Blagoje Vrbović (Blaža), Branislav Rade (Baki), čorba, ćevapčići, daća, Dragana Vitas (Dragana), gimnazija, Gorana Sredljević (Go), house dictionary, IV5pp, Jasmina Vlajin, Joda, Jovan Zdanić (Jozda), Juliška, Lesnina, majstor, Mališa Borkovski (Borče), Merima Tabarski (Mima), Nenad Bajlo (Bajlo), pogačice, rakija, rođendaonica, Ryu (Raja), sGradlj.com, Springfield, Tanja Nastić, Velemir Prokin (Čarga), yugo, zzzzz, Živko Mjedenica (Mjedac), in serbian
21-III-2026 - 15-V-2026