We went to Peskara a few more times, last time (tenth this year) on 9th, without her, she was cooking the tomato juice. We won't get much of tomato this year, because we aren't watering it - the compressor is refusing to press. The one time we tried it, it worked but couldn't make more than 0,2 bar, and it should go all the way to 2,5 bar. I did call Zdravko, and he promised to come, but then it's just too hot to go there just for that... probably will do it once before the september gathering. I actually met him, sort of, on 20th, while she was in the chinese shop with the girls - he recognized me from above, was doing something in an apartment and just appeared on the terrace, so I laid out the details. So, whenever we both catch the time.
Later I realized in which apartment he was. The place where Tejka used to live. Her bum husband tried to claim the place for himself, but the law is clear, her sister is the only live heir and that's it. She's divorced (whatever happened to that physicist guy?), I guess in Belgrade, and it seems she finally sold it. Well, some day I'll remember to ask around.
On 23rd I finished my rounds at the dentist. I'm still the majority owner of my jaw - 19 of my own teeth, mostly the front and some representation in the far back and scarcely anything in between. The anaesthetic was dosed richly. I took a nap after lunch, then we went to Klincaid to pick some fruit, and only then the effect has fully worn off.
On 25th she made her own baklava, pretty much per the recipe of Borče's grandmother, just walnuts instead of hazelnuts and a few other fine touches, full success. We ate it for 3-4 days.
These weeks the twins are getting weaned off diapers. Which mostly works - Sanda would take it in stride or on the toilet seat, while Linda prefers the potty... or wherever she's at the moment. There were some spills, but overall success rate is better than 5:1 by now.
On 27th took the girls to Springfield, or they took us. Sanda knows the way, and as these months she sits with baba on the bike, her index finger points where to go. The children playground is pretty much closed. We saw Vesna and two other girls (one kind of new, and the other one was working our shift last time we came on sunday, so we kind of know her) cleaning and disinfecting the whole playground, which seemed like a weekly routine we never witnessed. Well, routine since the epidemic. But no, actually they were fired, so this is what they'd do until end of month. She said there were three consecutive days when no child entered the facility, so now there's no charge for using it but no nanny either.
There was a cute scene on Peskara on 29th, when we were about to leave, and we were carrying the twins and the stuff (four swimming belts, sack with towels etc, two mats - a true reed asura but with aluminium foil back), while Nina took Raja and Violet to the shower, then told them where to wait while she finds us. She found us, and I asked where the two were - and they were sitting on a bench, 15m away. I waved them and then the girl at the nearest chair waved back - it was Vesna, just recognized us. For a brief moment I thought she confused us with somebody else... but no, our visual signature, what with the twins, is unmistakeable.
On 4th I woke up at 5 (had to use the nokla as alarm clock, happens every couple of years) to go to zzzzz building, but upstairs where work medicine is, to get examined. Nothing wrong with me, it's that I'm turning 65 soon and the law requires a check. Got there on time (left the car on the parking, it being almost raining) and found about twenty people waiting outside. It says they open at seven, and this was about 6:25... wow. But there are two lines - one for the sanitary check, for those who work with food or get in touch with people at work (I underwent that a couple of times when I was teaching), the other for the rest, and that line was shorter. They let in only 2-3 people at a time, and the guy at the door would spray your hands with disinfectant, and check your temperature by holding an infrared reader against your brow for a few seconds. Masks are mandatory while inside, these days, the corona virus is now taken seriously. I passed the psychologue, psychiatre, ophtalmologue and ECG really quick, in about 50 minutes altogether, then had to wait at the door of the work medicine specialist for about 40 minutes, just hoping for a little chat, because I know her. Turned out I know the other same kind of scpecialist (just as superficially - her husband - Bane - worked at mašinska when I did, and we were guests at their wedding party, but then in the following decades met perhaps three times). All these doctors looked the same - same clogs, same blond dyed hairdo of the same length (about 4cm lower than the ears), same glasses, and if there was any difference in the face, it was covered by the mask. Ah yes, the psychiatre was fat and in good mood, the others were just busy and businesslike. And the last one didn't recognize me - well, she had a pharmacy 2nd door from the DBA together with her then husband (the same Savela who was commanding my unit in the reserve in 1984, the „if anyone asks where you served, it was at privatnik's“), and they were our customer there, and I did visit the shop a couple of times (though not my app, just dropping by before going elsewhere), but I had more contact with him. Did one animated logo on zx spectrum for him, and he was my commanding officer in the reserve in 1984. Anyway. the net result is that I'll have to wear glasses while driving. My range of good focus is about 0,9 to 200 meters, which is fine for the city, but outside it would be nice to read ahead like before. I accept a proof when I see it, and I saw it, badly focused.
Between 4th and 8th, I was exchanging messages with UDruguRuku, some guy from burundi, because he mentioned some monitor speakers (what we'd call studio speakers here) to someone looking for a source of good sound. I got interested, feeling like treating myself to something for this coming retirement age. Though I am de facto retired for a whole year already... so, he supplied the links, I learned all I needed to know about balanced cables (running the same signal twice, over three wires, the 2nd one being the negative of the first, so any inductive interference along the way gets nulled when, on target, the two signals get subtracted). So I picked one link and called the guy on 9th, on a nice sunday morning.
Then on 10th, in the morning (not so early, about 10) I went to get my new licence. Again, people waiting outside, some wearing masks on, some under chin, some on the elbow, but all putting them on when entering. The nice tall cop girl sprays your hands and measures your temperature and in you go. I first went in to get the traffic permit for the car, which I should have done two months ago but kept forgetting - it's a piece of paper on the sunshield above my head, looking the same as the piece I got last year. Except they meant different things; last year they were supposed to replace the licence cards but weren't ready, so just extended the old ones and gave this paper as the official proof that it's an extraordinary extension. This time, I was getting a new one, and this paper was just a placeholder for the ten days it takes them to make them. I don't know which is worse - that they do all these pieces of plastic (IDs, licences, the special pages in the passports) centrally, so everything has to be shipped to Belgrade and distributed when ready, and you have to come and get it, or would it be even worse if they had machinery in every city, with who knows what kinds of idiot operating it and making all sorts of silly mistakes, plus the cost of machinery, times five for the "installation fee" - someone would get installed in the price and end up much richer than before. Anyway, this was rather fast - just when I lit my second cigarette, the guy from Pazova called to tell me he's packed and shipped my speakers. While I was talking with him, my name came up... and I ad to have new picture taken, with glasses. Of course, I didn't have them, but they have some gay style frames. Fitting - fuck the ID picture on which one doesn't look like a criminal.
So in the afternoon we took Sanda downtown (Linda was asleep), with the detour through the underground, to reach the optical shop, 2nd door from DBA, riverwise. She's got all the machinery to gauge the eyeball, lens and distance, so I got the perfect pair - just a +1 for long range, with flip-on polarizing glasses, held by magnets. She got new reading glasses. My reading glasses should be 3,2/2,9 (finally developed some difference), but for writing this or reading from the screen, the good old 2,0 is still fine, don't want to get my eyes too lazy. It took about an hour to cut the lenses and fit them, so we went to Prleski for coffee and icecream. As usual, we saw nobody we knew, nobody for a chat, except, guess what, Vesna passed by and said "ćao".
On 11th, just as we were at the soup ("the original", as Violet calls it, for it is the primary stuff, made with turkey drumsticks this time, and our noodles), the post express guy rang the landline. He's just about to arrive. I still had the time to count the money and wait for him on the street, the house numbers being a mess he went to the wrong half of the street first. The speakers have arrived.
Turns out I don't have the female plugs... plugettes? Receptacles. Not for the 6 mm bananas that this thing has. Looked for music shops around town, but they're all either in that jewish shopping centre at the other end of town, or they have everything, from blowdryers to lawn mowers, so no use looking for jacks. Called my usual hardware shop, yup they got them. Of course, the splitter is into 2x stereo, not stereo 3,5mm to 2x 6mm mono... Tried for Carp, but he's on the vacation. His guys sent me to the hole-in-the wall shop near gimnazija, where I found plugs to solder. So in the evening we used these adapters and listened to it in mono, just the left channel on both. But the sound is magnificent. We sat until 2:40 just listening to our music. Even the recording of our favorite drinking song that I made on 31-VIII-2018. on the main city square sounded just great. Much better than what we heard on the spot, that was too loud.
Today we took the girls to Springfield again. It was dark in there, the AC was off, only the restaurant part was working. They're down to just two waiters and the cook - they have a brief menu, mostly the pizza (which they started with). I said this would be the only place where we couldn't possibly meet Vesna, as we seem to run into her wherever we go. I left her with the twins there, and went off to buy a soldering iron. When I came back, sweating like hell (bicycle is like the mirko, as soon as you stop it, the fan is turned off), she said I was wrong: Vesna is here. Just said ćao and left, she's first shift today.
So in the afternoon I spent an hour with all the tools I acquired recently - the perfect little insulation stripper and grip stand with crocodile clips and lens and LED light (all from Lidl) and the new soldering iron, and made the cables. Not perfect, the 6mm mono banana in the 6mm stereo female jack doesn't quite fit, there's some broom ("brum" is from "brujanje", i.e. the low sound you get when there's some contact between signal and ground), but I moved those tiny wires (cannibalized an old mouse for its cable) until it was almost gone. In the evening I just sat there and didn't even read much. Listened to all that music I accumulated, now with the perfect sound (ran it probably at just 10% of its power, it's 2x82W).
26-VIII-2020 - 25-III-2026