The show at end of semester, 15th, probably in komitet - gimnazija didn't have an auditorium of proper size, and the principal was a party man, so no problem getting the slot there. Beštara was annoying. Zova and his cousin Zaka were sheer fun. The chemistry professor was the MC. Principal snagged in the microphone cable, mike down. Oli Boj ended up at the wrong side of the curtain. I escorted one girl from the class (45 years later she was still looking good) but didn't try for any advances - her village is not the nearest, and there are three weeks ahead.
Veca and Sneca came to visit on 18th. They should move into 25. maj in a couple of months. They're the same as last summer, just that Veca looks better than before.
I was riding the bus to school all winter. The tickets were tiny, 3x6cm or smaller, and I became quite skillful at making boats out of them. Then with one hand. Then with left hand, on my knee. Not bad for exercising my fingers. At my times of day - before the second or after the first shift - there wasn't much of a crowd, but the morning and evening buses were chock full. And I had thought that everyone's work starts at six or seven. It's possible that the morning crowds were made by housewives going to the market, totes were seen, and various folks from kombinat who'd have some business downtown, who can know. The entrance to the bus was through the front door... or was it still the rear and middle then, the system changed. On one side, ticket control was more difficult when entry through multiple doors was allowed, but on the other it was faster, so they'd save maybe ten minutes per round, and the driver and conductor would then take a break at the end station, to take a leak, have breakfast... Smoke breaks weren't a problem - while passengers rarely smoked on the bus, the staff did.
Ticket control wasn't a problem either, people are honest, and even those who came in through the far door would pay the ticket. It was called „over a connection“. Which is a nice bit of self-irony, because „over a connection“ one would get a better job, jump a queue for stuff where there's a long wait, get a loan for an apartment. A ticket over a connection went by sending the money, from hand to hand, to the conductor, who'd then send the ticket and change the same way back. It's a small wonder that I never saw any scene where someone would complain of not getting the ticket or being shortchanged. What did happen was that the guy leaves the bus before the ticket comes, his station was up. Not here, though, and not these years, the lines are long enough and nobody would ride a bus for just two stations. Let's see, from my home to town there was the station at the middle of the street, beginning of it, by Lesnina, one by Žitni trg, and then main street. The distance between stations was such that the time to walk two of them was roughly equal to average wait, at least in my street, where there were four buses an hour (four lines, that is, they never had multiple vehicles on the same line). In places where there were fewer lines, one had to either show up at the station on time, or walk.
There was another station at the same distance, at the end of the street, by šećerana. It being within my old stomping grounds and habits, I initially used that, but then changed my mind. Because I couldn't see the bus coming, the next station out was by obdanište and that's behind a corner. So I wouldn't know how far was it until it passed by kantina - at which time it was too late for me, if I wasn't within 20m of the station. From the station by the corner I could see if the bus was at šećerana, and if it was actually closer than that and I already passed the railway, it made sense to run for it. If not, at least I wasn't walking away from town, I'd just continue and probably still get there, less than ten minutes late.