Probably the day she started working as a sanitary inspector. (... 203 words...) In the neighborhood, just next house beyond Sofija, lives Čarga's (first) ex wife, married to an electrician, vintage 54, whom I remember from childhood, we played sometimes, called him Yellow because he was a redhead... Well, her sister was the wife of dr. Nevenov, who was the chief inspector, so she got a hint that there's an opening for one more inspector(... 55 words...). The Yellow wasn't lucky - some ten years later he had a serious encounter with high voltage on a pole somewhere, with such bad results that he retired immediately, he wasn't fit for work anymore. Didn't enjoy the retirement for too long, died within a few months. That girl just wasn't lucky with her husbands, which is too bad, she's really a dear and pleasant person, one would wish her for a neighbor.
Over time I got to know some of the folks there, but more through her stories than contact, as I didn't really drop by too often. Maybe I'd pick her up when we'd have to go somewhere right after, and would chat up the folks while she was closing up.
I actually remember three of them. First of all Vlastimir, and not by goodwill. A sleaze, probably udbaš, finished inspectorial higher (2 years of medicine, that division) and still bragged how he's a better inspector than the doctors. He played a few nasty plots against several people. From the regulations he was supposed to enforce, he knew the one about the room height. He plotted against their lady boss (who was appointed when dr Nevenov went solo practice) so she got fired. He managed to have his half college recognized as a whole, internally, so with the passed labor* he earned more than the doctors, which lasted while the inspection was of the province. Once it got reorganized as a part of the ministry of health (v. 02-V-1992.), oops ciao. Still, he managed to be the boss for a while.
The second is Mira Čestić, of Lika by origin, married into the clan (which is mentioned as early as 21-I-1973.). She's the mother of those twins, of whom one married the older of the Smetovački sisters. Cream of the cream. She may have been good in nature, but that didn't surface then, as she was too deep into her current lifestyle, i.e. life on budžin bulevar and the standard of living that went with it. (... 42 words...)
The third is Dragutin, whom I saw maybe once or twice, but heard him several times, because in his eighties he took to call once a year to check on his former colleague. He's a legend by the way he finished medical high, with four sacks of beans - that's what his family could afford to feed him during his schooling. The lady whose tenant he was would cook it for him, perhaps adding a random peace of meat at times, and that was what he ate four years. Much later another connection revealed itself ... 06-VIII-2019..
Even when I did drop by, later when they moved to a smaller building in the backyard, overlooking the market, I more often met my colleagues from the educational inspection, who were on the floor above. There I'd meet my former director, then Cvetana and once, later, even Zaka (he, an inspector, now I've heard everything).
12-VI-2024 - 27-IX-2025