23-XI-2014.
Nineteenth.
Discussion among the samurais* on suština, something like a staff meeting
The pearl for today... I unloaded all of my pockets (lighter, tozna, mobile, grocery receipts) and suddenly I see there's no cash in the rear pockets. Hmmm, ah, yes, had it in the jacket... shakedown the jacket, all pockets empty. Shakedown my head when was it that I last saw the cash, ah, yes, the book store, bought the paper for the printer and the thicker markers for the brandy (the thinwriter I can't read, when I feel like drinking I need better light and spectacles to see what's in which bottle), so I must have missed the pocket when I... um, lemme recheck once more. As the old programming rule says, when the test finds a bad result but doesn't point to an error, look at the test itself. I don't understand how I checked the left pocket twice and the right one not at all.
It's time for a stronger rest with boozing out. I did start it a bit, but too small a bit. Need something bigger.
Twentyfirst. Coal arrived. Not like once upon a time, when you'd pay in august and keep looking down the street in december to see whether a truck is coming. This took a hour and a half. We went all the way over there to the lumberyard by Duvanika, there they had a good one, better quality, washed and dried, no dust no clay. Costs same as wood, actually wood now costs more. We spread a tarp so it doesn't mix up with the soil and grass, and to shovel it easier - whatever rolls to the edges, we simply lift that corner of the tarp and slide it back to the heap. Faik also came to help. Too bad he can't drink, says he gets a rash, and I don't know how else to treat him without creating an embarrassment.
We filled wheelbarrows, then through the garage and through the basement window. Near the end I was down there, with a rake and a hoe to spread the coals (hoe first, but then it fell off the handle).
On this shot I see the gate is leaned on the fence... when we were paving the path from the garage to the driveway, we took it off, and repositioned the popa** some 10 cm higher than before, planning to re-weld the hinges accordingly (third time). Never did. We decided we like it better without a gate. A year or two later I cut off the popa, we don't need it. The driveway is short, anyway, if I leave space between the car and the gate, the other end is almost above the blacktop. Easier this way.
On 22nd, about some conversion, with Geoff. I sent him a log from the last round, to check. As usual, he's operating five or six customers on the same day, so I caught him en route again. He'll take a look when he gets there.
Heating works again! We managed on AC alone for a while, now it needs fire. There's more paprikaš from the last year's masonry and from the chicken coop, that's the kindling. When it takes fire, coal.
Nina sent a bunch of shots from Cyprus, seems they have a good time there. She says Ender almost caused an accident only once, then concentrated on driving left. Says it's not as complicated as he imagined it would be. I don't know, I can do lots of things in reverse - I can read upside down, mirrored, even combined; the fork I hold in the hand closer to salad; I can write with both hands, lots of it, but driving left is beyond my imagination.
Today we met them at the airport. They landed on time, and as usual showed up the last at the gate. That is, Raja walked first, then Nina, carrying Violet and pulling the luggage cart, and then... where's Ender? Few meters behind, there he is, a land steward pushing him in a wheelchair. And pushed him all the way to the car, even across the two meter of bad uphill concrete. Luckily it wasn't a busy day so I parked the saxo really close. Didn't tip the guy, he left too fast, and then it wasn't me in the wheelchair, why would I. And what happened, why? The gout got him stiffly, can't stand.
We set it with Lena to meet in Džakarta. From the car to the table, I was holding Raja's hand, she carried Violet, and Ender leaned on Nina's shoulder, limping.
At least the grub was good, the Džakarta is not bad at all, and we had a separe to ourselves. Wasn't me who made this autopatch, it's Nina's phone. My sopstver (v. house dictionary) wouldn't double anyone. Phone does do it on the fly, managing as it can. Even nokla can do it, not much worse than this, but I didn't do it more than a handful of times. There's no control over what it'll do, and you've wasted a scene, and it doesn't save partial shots.
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* such a distinguished occupation deserves to have plural. One should not carry the burden of many.
** the piece into which the spike, securing the wider pane of the gate, hooks. Actually means a priest.
Mentions: Džakarta, Ender Aquila (Ender), Faik Rizvani, Geoff Gearney, house dictionary, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), Nevena Sredljević (Nina), nokla, Ryu (Raja), saxo, suština, tozna, Violet, in serbian