12-III-2018.

Bilja called again in the morning, sent me the link to Babatovo, and while google's maps put the restaurant about 100m after the curve and more on the levee, it actually still is where I remember it. I think I was there once, with dad, perhaps in the eighties, he was supposed to meet someone over something and I just kept him company.

Turned out they close at 21, so that's out. We could meet earlier but that would mean fewer of us available, some of us still have to work (namely us guys, the ladies being generally of retiring age since 2016). So we switched the venue to debelamačka, my ace in the sleeve for any such gatherings, Smilja never fails. Bajlo organized the calling and who drives whom, I didn't have to drive anybody - Dragana can walk the four blocks from Lesnina. Apart from the standard crew (Staša, Baki and those already mentioned), Mima appeared as Bilja's transport and neighbor (her mom is bedridden, dunno whether Alzheimer or some kind of palsy, plus some bone broken recently - which is why she rarely appears for our gatherings, and OTOH still works, teaching maths at MPSŠC). Another suprise, though they appeared a bit later, Savka (retired) and Milica (freshly retired, her husband being either bedridden or demented or... unclear what I actually heard), both looking younger than four years ago, regular vacations and weekly sessions of pilates (not Poncije Pilat, how we pronounce the biblical Roman, nor pell-let-ease as the Amers pronounce it, but pill-ut-ess, stress on 2nd). Until that moment, we had a mathematicians' majority around the table. Just didn't use it for anything useful, nor spiteful.

And, eh, Baki remembered to bring my glasses. Now I have a spare pair.

There was more of a suprise when I winked to Smilja to bring in the butkica (which is what she calls the pigs' knees, sounds better that way and more local) though she couldn't keep all three she promised, had only two but added sausage. Obviously nobody mentioned any food when arranging this (I did, but only to her), so there was some unspoken question of payment... as in "nice but we didn't sign up for this". I was quite happy to have the tab on me, my treat on behalf of the twins and the title of (probably) the grandfather of generation (at least in our gimnazija) - there's one lady in IV₄ with five grandchildren, and she got passed over in a tight curve.

The only downside of the whole evening (apart from the stupid rain so I had to wear the hood all the 2,5km from home, walking) was the waiter she hired - the same old thug who worked that foggy night 04-XII-2015. when we tried the retirees' night life. And he kept pretending that we were some longtime pals. March off, you thief.

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Mentions: 04-XII-2015., Biljana Lajković (Bilja), Branislav Rade (Baki), debelaMačka, Dragana Vitas (Dragana), gimnazija, IV₄, Lesnina, Merima Tabarski (Mima), Milica Erceški, MPSŠC, Nenad Bajlo (Bajlo), Savka Čajkanić, Stanoje Serdarević (Staša), in serbian

19-IV-2018 - 30-VI-2024