31-XII-1974.

The doček. We went to Novi to do it at her's friend from college, whom I didn't really know much, saw her a couple of times. Been to the apartment once. Her roommate was a Slovakian blonde, with very sexy legs but vile temper, like a stormcloud refusing to clear. A permanent frown and the next snide remark ready.

I think we took a bus to her place, then walked the couple of kilometers to the main train station. The šinobus left around 16, IIRC, and it took the usual 2,5 hours to get there. Of the discussion I remember very little, only that I kind of disagreed with Arie about Rollingstones - I appreciate them and know a lot of their music, but I guess I'm not nervous enough yet to really feel it as my music. I guess I was already a Jethro Tull fan to the hilt, with strong inclinations to ELP, Canned Heat and Guess Who - then, with a few empty slots, Zeppelin, Deep Purple and a few others. And yes, the funny moment when I tried to explain the word šinobus to Rudolf... while Schine is a german word :).

The place was an old house in wider downtown, with tall ceilings and hard-to-hide rolled-on patterns on the walls. The doček was so-so, the usual, though with six people who don't know eight others it didn't sit right. Nothing much happened. Having four foreigners was fun for most, even though two of them were cops. Rosanne did look a little lost. I think Rudolf said she had an abortion lately, she was on the pill but at some point she had a queasy stomach and puked. It seems the pill was also puked out, which disturbed her cycle. It was no surgery, it was more of a "slurped through a straw". But then she was always thin, pale and had a bad (step)father who brought her up strictly, and she then evaded the regime any way she could.

My gang went to the train station in the morning and left, and we got into the same šinobus home to Fabrika station.


Mentions: Ariejan Verschoor (Arie), doček, Fabrika station, Novi Sad, Rosanne, Rudolf Ochsner, šinobus, in serbian