01-IX-2021.
Downtown with the girls in the afternoon. She wanted to buy few skeins of yarn, to crochet I suppose, and a menada at that, which is a miracle - the type and name are the same as fifty years ago, no change. Perhaps the manufacturer is also the same, which would be an even bigger miracle. The shop is near the old marketplace, and the owner is our neighbor, next to Faik. His wife was in the shop, and went all pilaffy when she saw the twins. Them two invaded the shop right away, played everywhere, just like they do wherever we go. Went into the shop window, out to the street...
Then we went to the centre, met L. from IV4 (she and Gavra are the org. committee). Said it'll be the same place as five years ago. Ah okay, it's just that nobody's calling. Never mind, now that we know the place.
So we came to the main street, got popcorn, lolipops, sat in front of the old Nama wile they ate them and chased pigeons. I saw my parking hour would expire soon, so volunteered to walk to the car and park behind gimnazija. Look, the building where Presprom was is torn down, there's just a big hole in the ground. Not that it was any architectural miracle, another gray cube with a roof. The basement must have been huge.
The parking behind the gimnazija was not open yet. During the Beer days it becomes a lunapark* - well it's over but they haven't packed completely. It's full of cars, though, but the entrance is closed. Perhaps they ticket it manually for the duration, but at the exit, which I've passed already. Parked behind the corner, even closer to the main. Paid via nokla, as street parking goes these years. Meanwhile she took Linda and Sanda into Nama, where there's a second set of merchant Chineses, this time the same brand as the one in the bank across sdk, and they bought some lol dolls (yup, that's the brand). To differ from all other daughters and granddaughters we had, who mostly played with boxes, these two (and Violet to an extent) really play with dolls. Though, this time packing and unpacking was more interesting...
On second we hit the outing day. Raja screamed a bit, his eye hurt, seems to be the rheume solidified and moved before the tears washed it out so it scratched his eye, then he didn't feel like going, but at least he was fully awake. The others, for once, packed really fast, even Nina, who usually invents something to do, at the last moment, that couldn't be done at any other time. The plan was that I pick Borko and Dragana around 9:30, while all the packing goes on, but we were relatively fast this time, so at 10:15 we were in the van. Went to Lesnina to pick her, then swung by ruža into 25. maj to pick him and then we hit the road. We made no stops, except the mandatory pedagogical chat with the cops at their regular ambush at Hajdučica. Wasn't the speed this time, it's that my passengers didn't click their belts. Well the belts aren't working, I can't find the parts, there are no tension units. Could have cost us theoretical 60000 dinars (good that they couldn't count the passengers from the outside). Of course, they let me go just like that, same as last time. Amazingly, I got the route right from first, we passed granma's village and found that Gudurica, which is not in the flatlands anymore, it's on the first slopes of the hill (technically a mountain). The village is a bit strange, it is Banat but wrinkled a bit, it's not a flatland, it has a slope, pull the handbrake wherever you park. The number of houses in good repair is minimal, whatever didn't fall or get overgrown with weeds was at least whitewashed once in last two decades. We planned initially to visit two or three wine cellars, but in the first one the owners weren't there, the second was closed, but the third one was a hit in the middle, everything orderly and shipshape, the host has the will and the time. The first two also look a bit run down.
This guy did everything from scratch, told us later how he and his wife started from nothing. All done in classic ethno style, wood, dersed** façade brick, tables... actually a big dining hall for perhaps a bus or two full of people. And he did say he had two buses announced last year, which all canceled when curfew went into effect.
His wife was simmering a huge gulaš for about twenty persons, probably for workers who'll pick grapes, the crop is near. We sat perhaps ten minutes in that dining hall, when Dragana suggested we move outside to smoke, and it's nicer outside anyway. The host brought out the wines he had, from lighter to darker, while I walked around the block to move the van closer and bring from it the salties and mufljuzi*** that she prepared, which saved us - the guy didn't serve any snacks, not even cheese. Well, we weren't announced. Didn't affect me much, I drank the mineral water. Some time around the fifth wine, Dragana started praising my brandy, to which the guy said he doesn't do much of that, he's got only 1200 trees... and then brought out some of his brandy, I think quince.
The kids, well mostly the girls (Raja stuck to his phone) were running around barefoot, had big good time, went into and out of the dining hall, opened and closed the door. In the end we bought some five liters of wine, and went on to check on the next wine cellar. When we got there, it was Borko's turn to knock on the door. When he was getting out of the van, he forgot that the wine bottles were on the floor, between his legs, so they fell on the doorframe, and one neck broke. Each was in its own bag, so nothing spilled in the cabin. We left it by the bridge over the ditch, in front of that winery (nobody home), just to let them find a competitor's bottle, the message being „we came to buy more but you weren't around“. Then we drove back to the first guy and Dragana went to buy a replacement of the same black wine.
Since Borko was obviously already done a bit, we decided to go to Vršac, to eat something. Instead of making a tour through yet another village, we returned the same way, the van being already pointed in that direction because of that one bottle. I told Nina to find Leskovčanin on her phone, that's where we dined a couple of times when we did the tezga for the local stambena back in 1988. She found a different place instead, the Dinar. Which turned out far better, it's stunning. It's yet another ethno tavern, all in wood and peasant's utensils from a century ago, but this was done so imaginatively, so many details, it's obvious that someone had a vision and was let do it to the hilt. First that the main door is wrought sheet iron, as if for an arsenal, all in rivets and stuck (or invisibly welded) dinar coins from various ages. I recognized the pet banke (fifty dinars) from my childhood, a hundred from the nineties.
Then it's quite dark in the first room, all stuffed with bits of the initial industry of the area, even a mobile kitchen, with three sealed pots of about 30 liters each, with its own fireplace, chimney tube and wooden wheels. Then it goes through the bar, into something like a harvester shed, quite tall and airy, light coming in from the side as the yardside wall is missing, the seats are made of massive wood with occasional fur (goat's?) draped over the backrest. The lamps are made of old vintner's spray pumps... well it has everything. I could have made two dozens of shots, there are at least five areas with different athmospheres. The grub... we outdid ourselves, what can I say, the cook is creative and the baker... I asked the waiter „what did you blackmail the baker with“ - „he got an offer which he didn't dare refuse“. (... 12 words...)
Along those lines, the trouble with Borko seems to be empty bed, he even said how it's good for me to be always in female company. He previously also mentioned being fond of sex and glad to remember it. Well those contemplations seem to have come to a head now... which is stressed in presence of alcohol. Still, he's good, doesn't spout rubbish, just spills some liquids here and there. Dragana brought his clean shirt from last time, clean and ready in case he messes it up again.
The drive was easy, effortless, got home at 18:00. I meant to distribute the two of them first, but Violet needed to pee so I drove home first. We did stop on the shoulder somewhere about halfway, but she just couldn't do it, probably grass tickled her. Well, so can't Raja either, he never peed standing.
On friday took the girls to the old house, to collect the mail. Lena was expecting some invitation in the matter of her name change (so the eternal nickname becomes official name now), then to Lidl then Roda. In the old house they asked right away to unlock the house, yard won't suffice, and immediately took to the two alarm clocks, to wind them up to ring (we wind...), they do that each time. Sanda threw her one on the concrete twice, even after I shouted, so I shouted a lot more and took away her clock. Baba told her to come to me and say she was sorry, which she did, but I didn't budge, they all said they were sorry and did it again so many times. She went back to baba and said „It didn't work“. The clock stayed in the cupboard.
Called Žuca about tomorrow, and she said it's not tomorrow, Gavra didn't schedule it yet. Ah, okay, great, we agreed on how we'll split the dates a month ago, they take the 4th, we the 11th. Alright, then nothing... called Borko and Dragana to tell them it's off, we go nowhere tomorrow, nor to make any „frendz parti“ until the end of months, we'll be seeing each other at each maturski.
Made brandy on 7th, 6,8kg of tutifruti. Wanderful day, made for sitting in the yard. Saw 82 on the scale this morning. I somehow got into the habit of eating less for lunch, and almost nothing for supper. Last night my supper was a slice of bread with lard and hot aleva peppers, everything proper except the bread was spongy industrial garbage. I got some rye bread from Lidl, but I don't eat it fast enough, so it's now stone hard around the corners. She told me to slice it next time and put in the freezer, then take a slice at a time. Worth a try.
On 8th she went to buy drumsticks and thighs to make pohovano for lunch. We had that many times, last time this sunday, but Linda and Violet wanted more so okay, can do twice in the same week. Fresh news from the end: the new fastvore is already closed, not even a sticker remained. In the Mrkšić butcher's across she met Carp's ex, now natural gray hair, no dye anymore, and says that amazingly she looks younger now (!). She asked what happened with promes. Alive and kicking, got two other shops across the river, it's just that this one couldn't stand the competition, Matijević being nearby and three more butchers there within 200m. And Mrkšić also has an eye on the location.
Jozda called, he's convening the org. committee for the 47,5 year maturski... which is his brainchild and which got accepted tentatively, under the slogan „well why not, even if only half do come, one party more can't hurt“. Now since the rapid spread of delta variant of corona, barely a week into the school year, it's quite probable that any gatherings may be prohibited by mid october. Whichever way it turns, the meeting will be held at noon on friday, so I called Dragana to represent us, I had to go to Čankovo in the afternoon to mow and clean up. Then I heard that the IV4 will hold theirs on 18th. For the first time in the history of history (in serbian original the second word is croatian, „povijest“; we call it istorija) theirs will happen after ours. Same place as 03-IX-2016..
In the afternoon went to Čankovo to pick more fruit. Loads of plums, perhaps 60kg, and some pears, apples, vineyard peaches. The quince look promising, lots of fruit.
Talked with Go in the evening, about just anything and everything. Kids were asleep (it was 13-15:00 her time), Stanley is at work. Her mushroom farm is going on nicely, flowers too, cucumbers limping, plums scarce. There was some talk of vaccine, from conspirology side. Says a doctor who posted a content from an official CDC's (a ministry of health by other means) got shafted for... fuckit why, not keeping his mouth shut. And such documents, publicly available at gov't sites, are aplenty. The graphine oxyde could well be the black goo they mentioned in X-files (or ex files, the shredded ones), it's magnetic and under a microscope it moves when a cell phone rings nearby. And about spike proteins, under the microscope the blood cells of the vaccinates form strings, hooked spike to spike, which could be the reason of the at least micro clogs in the bloodstream. Which may be an alternative explanation on why Borko's bar is going down, he seems to be lowly calibrated recently.
OTOH, when they asked the Amish about the low incidence of corona among themselves, „we have no television“.
I meant our vacation, whereby we would just go somewhere for four days (and every time I convince her that three nights is my minimum, she resets it to three days two nights next time we talk, so convinced her again), to be somewhere next week, but will not can, there will be brandy to distill. So... Nina has a dentist on 22nd (tuesday), so the day after or next one.
Ninth. Took a better look at the scale. It's not 82, it's 81... long time no see. Making brandy today again, plus there are about six runs in various phases of fermentation, so even if all of this is ready by monday (won't be), there's the yesterday's stuff to do too. Delayed spring, delayed froot.
We got a bit less brandy than expected, but who cuts its hair (which is an euphemism for „who fucks it“, which should mean „who cares about it“), it smells right.
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* common name here for the carousels, rolleroasters, little trains, shooting galleries, bump cars and the like
** the mortar between the bricks scraped off as deep as a spoon goes - heard the word from majstor Mile
*** muffins, renamed by similarity. A mufljuz (word of turkish origins) means a vile character, a thug
Mentions: 03-IX-2016., 25. maj, Čankovo, Dragana Vitas (Dragana), Faik Rizvani, Gavrilo Taroški (Gavra), gimnazija, Gorana Sredljević (Go), IV4, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), Jovan Zdanić (Jozda), Lesnina, Linda Sredljevich Aquilla (Linda), majstor Mile, Mališa Borkovski (Borko), maturski parastos, Nevena Sredljević (Nina), nokla, pohovano, Presprom, promes, ruža, Ryu (Raja), Sanda Sredljević Aquilla (Sanda), sdk, stambena zadruga, Stanley Berger, Tasa Radenkov (Carp), tezga, Violet, Živana Armatović (Žuca), in serbian