02-VII-2016.
And so majstor Mile came with his team to Čankovo and started the works. The leaky roof was the prime cause, but when he saw what needed to be done, he left that for later, when he brings the proper scaffolding. For now they first went on to replace the shed's rear wall, which was about to fall. We first meant to just cut it in a few places and insert supporting beams, but then he said it'd be easier to just remove the whole wall and make a regular one. Well, then, we don't really need a whole wall, rather make a few openings in it... and we designed the whole thing in three sentences. There'll be three openings, then a carrying shelf on top of it, then lean the roof on it.
The next day (3rd) we went to see Lena. The office being Belgrade-based, they have an branches abroad, of which she needs to visit the one in the US and coordinate them with office main. And so she got an american visa. Ten years, to come and go as she pleases, limited to maybe 60 or 90 days per trip and no more than 180 days a year. We ate at kBlo, aka Blok, a newer type of restaurant, within walking distance from their apartment. Not some cuisine to slit wrists over, but not bad either. The waiter was an easy guy, coming across more as a chap from our gang, waiting for us for a show to start, than anything official.
Of course, I shot, now that I have the chance and the tools, this headspinning panoramix aka autopatch, from her terrace. Around 180° sideways and more than 90° up. I had to mess with stitching parameters, as the defaults gave a result which would make Dali dizzy.
The last shot there I made at 13:57; at 16:12 we were in Čankovo. The old wall was gone already, and they poured the foundation for the new one, the roof still leaning on their poles. The old outhouse and the niche next to it were also gone, vanished completely... except the outhouse seat frame stayed. Incredibly, the niche wall didn't connect to the outhouse at all, it was built wih bricks barely touching it by the corner, it could have fallen anytime. Yet the seat frame was poured in stiff concrete, indestructable. The logic of it can't fit into my head.
They went off, having to wait for the concrete to set anyway, and we two stayed to make another batch of brandy. Chaos everywhere, krtlog (v. house dictionary) of stuff dumped out of the shed, hoses, cables, bricks. But we made it.
On fifth I ran a 388€ tab in that private pharmacy. I guess they had the colchicine and/or that other med for Ender. I don't remember quite well what was the triper this time. I think this was when Lena was supposed to travel to the states and she'd send it from somewhere, without really visiting. I think she'd be in Orlando. It's cool, actually, to have her on a business trip, on the tab of a Belgrade based company, delivering medical aid to the US...
She made a better lunch, as auntie Janja came with her daughter to see dad, and I brought them all here. Her daughter is a colleague mathematician, with whom I had no contact since... that thing of 25-III-2003.. Lena did, five years ago, when she was attending that preliminary painting course, nighted at her a couple of times. She's got the apartment, for which she took a loan in swiss [francs], which she'll pay off forever, works in two schools and does private lessons, never married, just like her brother („which one would take me, anyway“ - of course, when you're an ex alcoholic, almost normal). Dad wasn't looking too well, so she got shit scared that he may die in her presence, so she spent half of the time outside, on allegedly urgent phone calls. Which he didn't, of course. She cut a big bag of rosemary branches for her, she's all about the macro foods and veghuan tricks. She's not bad looking, even at the age of around fifty, but she's just too thin.
By late afternoon we went again to see how the majstors were doing. The roof they put on support... no good, the beams are worn out. What beams, the old man stuck to his principle: „why would I get beams when I have wood?“. So that roof also went down, and the gable and the cabin above it, will make new.
We stayed to distill another batch, as it turned to have fermented to exactly the point, next day may be too late. Yet we didn't bring anything to eat, so I got into the saxo and went to the village shop, to see if I can get anything. The ony thing that seemed usable were the ćufte in tomato sauce, in the same foil as they were when we were students. We did eat the ready meals of the sort back then, sometimes. We warmed them up on the still's lid, it gets to 60-80°. The warming up was a success, the food, however... junk. Not even close to what they made in the seventies, this was... we were done with that brand for this and next decade.
Mentions: 25-III-2003., auntie Janja, Čankovo, ćufte, Ender Aquila (Ender), house dictionary, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), majstor, majstor Mile, saxo, triper kombinacija, in serbian