07-XII-2025.
This time we brought 100 eggs, which was received with applause when announced - they're into them again (Milan is keto again). We swung by Rerso first (which some read as pepco, pepko, peptzo... dunno why) to buy stuff for Tanja - body shirts, mittens, size 84 now, and by Roda to replenish my ernafil supply and she to visit the serekeš. This didn't work, no cash in it. I asked the pharmaceutesse is it that they're not filling it when it's retirement time, she can see it from her counter, said „every time“.
Having started rather early, I wasn't stepping on it (and keeping it lower won't hurtt, may what I poured last), and even took the time to drive the path which I missed last time, it's not bad to know the terrain (and it worked, goes exactly as I imagined it, I'm putting together my mental map of that end of Novi Beograd), and sat to smoke one in front of the building... and regardless, arrived half an hour ahead of the time. Considering that I'll spend little time outside of the car, I donned the clogs on bare feet again, as Joda's heating warms it up sufficiently in two minutes.
Lunch was interesting again, Lena is really trying various things out and it's going well. Don't remember what went with what, but we all had a nice fill. After lunch, another light stroll (without the stroller [for] the first time!) to the playground, not the one where we park, but this one closer to Ušće. Tanja took baba down the path she knew, through the basketball court, the one with bright red fence around (which looks sooo cool on the phots, fuck America and its stalinist grayness), and wanted to take her across the big intersection to Ušće mall, she barely managed to talk her out of it. The forelast time I already concluded that I'm no good anymore in walking and smoking, it's a waste, so I found a dry end of a bench and sat there to smoke it at leisure. Within two minutes they were gone from my view, but by half a cig they reappeared. This batch of tobacco is just enough more moist to burn significantly slower and roll easier. When Tanja spotted me, she ran straight to me, and I was so happy to see that, we even had a few shots so.
On the way back, at a turn of the path, she wanted to cut the corner, which we usually don't mind, because it's impossible that a thousand people are wrong, and the one who drew the paths is alone right, but this time we did stick to the pavement because there was a puddle on the shortcut. Eh, no, she insisted on returning and she stepped with both boots into the puddle. Luckily, this is a sandbar, there's no mud. And she was all important, look at me how I stepped into the puddle. The shot is presently adorning my ikonostas.
Driving back, the cigarette lasted from entrance to Čenta to the shipyard this side of Perlez, which is 17km or 13 minutes, by the map. Nice. In Mere we got a moderate amount of groceries. And just as the player in Joda takes no seedees these weeks, doesn't recognize them, so now the remote wouldn't open the door, I had to use the key. The next time it opened, when it warmed up and sufficiently dried. The music still doesn't work, just the shitty choice of local radio stations, one shit after another.
On monday Lena called, as Tanja was snotty even worse, and they almost sent her home from daycare, but by their protocol they do that when temperature reaches 38, and she had somewhat less. She actually called to check why was her third tonsil taken out (29-IX-1996.). Well, because you went to daycare and hooked up something every now and then, that's a serial occurrence there, every december half their kids are out, you had an inflammation of the middle ear every few weeks. Then Milan chimed in that he had that taken out as well. Eh, the combination of genetics and daycare... But let's not unsheath the knife yet, maybe that won't be necessary. She's just snotty for now, which is normal here.
Tuesday,, 9th. Went downtown in the morning, first to Medeja to leave the oops aka yoopyess to replace batteries (this is the third batch since 2013, so they last about six years, 3 to 4 being the norm), then do downtown, to park behind the gimnazija. Amazingly, the lot was chock full, barely found a place, but then it was a good one, easy to exit afterwards. And here I'm stuck with the impression that the city is dead, but look at this crowd.
We set our sights on some purchase, because Go left a sizable wad of cash, and now the exchange rate for dinar is even publicly challenged, after ten years of being pegged to euro. And we too bought a couple of grand of euros, once at 118, once at 118,50. Didn't stay too long, she just checked few window shops, I took a few shots. It wasn't too cold, it's just that I forgot what I had in mind - to check out DC-99's annual exhibition. Too late now, it closes on next tuesday, and I don't think I'll go again by then. Saw the shots from the opening - there was Škrba, there was Joška (probably he opened the exhibition), and the one I'm hoping not to see was nowhere, really could have come, but then they aren't emailing me for a number of years now, quite possibly it was him who removed me from the mailing list.
We meant to get the hen fodder in detelina, but it was also crowded, tough shit about parking, so at least she got the paper and I stayed in the car.
With zmajček being off the grid, I took the time to clean it out, it was about time. I had trouble recalling how to unbolt the video card, it worked the fifth time with help of a lady's hand, eh. I just got started when the guy called, the oops was ready... okay, got into the car and went to pick it up. Bought a webcam too. Wanna Lodžitek or Genijus... bah, when one of them becomes trash I switch to the other, be it keyboards, mice or speakers... okay, a Lodžitek this time.
The tiny cam turned out excellent, the best one so far, price a trifle (v. Alan Ford), just 4000, only Telegram didn't manage to poke its microphone - it's seen in the setup, but in chat it was not heard until I remembered to click the tiny arrow on mike's button (!), and there got a dropdown to pick which mike - the default (of which I have none, since I unplugged both the headset and the previous camera, the one from 2013, in trash now). So with Nina we spoke briefly via mac, and then on saturday at length... and now I don't have to transfer the sievefirings (screenshots :) monthly from the mac, which is a nuisance of a job, specially the ten step dance it takes every time. It forgets the doubleCommander (linux clone of TotalCmd) and then there's a sequence of some four dialogs, repeatedly, until it accepts that I really want to run it, despite it being an unregistered app, not approved by the Apple. Of course it forgets my answers and next months it's the same dance from scratch to make it work. Čibe* there, you mongrel!
Over the weekend we, thus, saw them all, now on zmajček, except Violet, who went totally night shiftedly. Well, in order: Raja (taller then Nina now, voice quite deep, moustache announced but not pronounced) is practicing handwriting, who knows when he may need it, practices guitar and piano in parallel, and as a sworn perfectionist, cunts out for it still not sounding the way he imagined it. She took him to the dentist again, and though the guy fixed and plugged them alright the last time, he immediately complained that one tooth started hurting right after being fixed. The dentist saw nothing there, but passing a fingertip over it he felt a notch by the gum line, jutting out. Filed it off and lo, the hurt stopped.
Linda and Sanda practice running on all fours, though Nina explained that our anatomy is wrong for that, the spines should be longer and thighs shorter. They get it but still accept the challenge, and we did see Sanda trying it out on the front lawn. There's barely any sunshine in the rear yard between november and february, the pines by the west fence cast qute a lot of shadow over there.
Anita we didn't see at all the last time, and this time once over the fence, was at friend's, and another time just briefly came into the frame to wave, busy girl. Neša did a perfect rendition of his act „don't touch me, I still haven't woken up“, making face after face. He got a „Bad dad jokes“ calendar, with lots of room to add his own inventions.
Stanley is thinking of what to do now, as his relationship with the shop owner (that romanian Hungarian, who keeps working and learning the new tech less and less, sees only how to take more money) is rapidly spoiling, and acquisition of parts is becoming a problem. So far they are available and arrive regularly, but bits of news are incoming of the plans (in the US and EU) to remove cars completely, by 2040 or thereabouts, being acted upon. One parts factory was already run into bankruptcy, which can't be because of the market, must be a dance. Electric cars, on the other hand, are increasingly unpopular. If the gas car owners may becunt a cost of a couple of grand per repair, an electricar which cost 25-30 thou, less than 15 years old, can't sell over 6000 despite having bare 60000 miles on it, because a battery replacement is due, and it costs upwards of 15000. And a bunch of more expensive options aren't sold with the used car - it's all software which must be bought from scratch, the registration is not transferrable. So we started stoking him up to open his own junkyard. And he said that's exactly where there's room to move, because the largestjunkyard chain, the Pick'n'pull are diligently charging every bit you take, and the prices are outrageous. For him it'd be just cool to sell the parts cheap, while harvesting the aluminium wheels and catalythic (aka catholic) converters and a few other bits, which would be profitable by itself. I explained what's a 'kafanski klupoder' (tavern benchtearer) and how that deejay eventually bought the tavern he loved (v. Borsalino).
Spoke with Lena again, she missed the regular time on tuesday, had a conference call. Tanja is still snotty, appetite fell, eats only soft stuff because chewing gets in the way of breathing, the pretty little nose (same as baba's) permanently clogged. And Api is becoming a problem, now that he's (chemically) castrated he's feeling weaker and compensates by becoming more aggressive. Yesterday he hit on his favorite rival, some pooch larger than himself, both ended with scratched heads. They don't know what would be worse, to leave him like this or to remove that pill from his back. Hope they don't choose both evils.
Borče called to report that his grandson from America arrived (um yeah, the krismass and that kind of stuff), so we'll see whether it'll be monday or tuesday. And on monday he called that tuesday is also not a sure thing, and on the other side the daughter has some bad flu and on top of it (which she didn't tell the doctor) she feels no smell nor taste... Aha, so next monday it is, we supply two consensuses from our side.
After the catnap, from which she woke me up in a second despite me having sunk deep, went to pay out all the bills and buy what needed [to be bought]. The whereabouts of the cash from my rear pocket turned into a whole mystery, until I remembered I last took it out when we were paying the parking on tuesday, and frisked ourselves for change (60 dinars), and I didn't want to bother to stuff it back while sitting at the wheel, so I left it on the dashboard and forgot. Which means it laid there [for] six days... perfectly hidden, the car wasn't locked, anyone peeking it could just coolly swipe it. But who'd a thunk. Nothing much to buy, cigarette paper and hen fodder from detelina, Milena's aunt's kiosk to pay the bills, to serekeš to lift some cash (which I didn't do seven weeks). Incredibly, I passed three jointed buses on the way there (!). The streets are a bit tight for them, but can pass. Until a year ago only Dräxlmeier's worker shuttle buses passed this way (and they go no more, it's closing, german car industry is in the dick because they were so keen on switching to electricars...), and now there's a city line too, the one to Fabrika station is not taking the short way from the busodrome, but through our area, which is maybe 600m longer, but handier to everybody - nobody lives along the old route except majstor Mile, and he's driving everywhere.
Tuesday, 16th. Early in the evening, almost right on time, Lena called while feeding Tanja. Tanja was in much better mood, not snotty much anymore. They went to a pedijatar [pediatrist], and she said lungs were okay, everything was okay, just the tonsils. She got some brambletramblecef, i.e. a cephalosporin (from 'usporiti' - to slow down - and kefalo - head), shaped as syrup, and that fixed the mood. She said „baba“ at least twenty times, with exactly the accent kids use when calling, and twice-thrice „deda“. New word is „Aca“ (ah-tsa), the other kid in the group is an Aleksandar. It's totally incomprehensible to me that in their area, where finding a parking slot is bordering on impossible even on sundays, the daycare has a group of two. The group is actually larger on paper, it's just that the parents aren't bringing the kids in yet, they staked out a slot, and will come in the fulfillment of time.
Few minutes later, Nina called, from a supermarket. Is that Walmart? Nope, the Cos(t)co. She found some socks for me which are at least half wool half plasic, but there's a lot of spandex in that other half, that's how they call lycra, sold in sixpacks, of which at least half are grey. The rest they have is plain plastic. Thanks, just don't, it's the same shit as here, and I swore I won't have anything gray on me even when underground.
We both cough, but now we learned, from the news portals, that it's now divided into „productive“ and „unproductive“ cough, whereby we both lean to the former. Hers is richer, I'm scraping the bottom and it often starts from irritation - a speck of food down the wrong chute, richer cigarette smoke at times. And there she reminded me of milk and honey, we do have a wee jar of progressive** honey, Vera got it as promotional material to spread (fckt, what comes to their minds), well okay, didn't do that in a while. And it was a minor miracle, it did help, just when I went into fits of cough which leave me semiconscious for a couple of seconds. Guess it was because of that Antitel's chick, Hypoxia... [anti-telo, antibody]
----
* just like the english language has different words for various animal sets (flock of seagulls, murder of crows, school of fish, swarm of flies) and serbian has just a few (čopor of wolves, jato - flock - of birds or fish, roj -swarm- of insects, stado of sheep or other cattle, krdo of larger animals), the 'shoo' is found to be a very poor choice. There are several words to call the animals (vabiti: to call animals) - pipipipip for chicken, biribiribiri for geese and ducks, mac-mac for cats, ks-ks for dogs, sorry I can't remember more - but also a different set for shooing them away - šic for cats, čibe for dogs, iš for poultry. Don't know whether the animals appreciate the creativity in either case or language.
** Vučić's party, amazingly, is called 'napredna', which nominally means progressive, but nowadays it's more like 'advanced'
Mentions: 29-IX-1996., Alan Ford, Anita Jennifer Berger (Anita), Api, Borsalino, DC-99, detelina, Fabrika station, gimnazija, Gorana Sredljević (Go), Gradivoj Škrbić (Škrba), Jelena Sredljević (Lena), Joda, Joška Apro, Linda Sredljevich Aquilla (Linda), majstor Mile, Mališa Borkovski (Borče), Milan Nastić, Milena Požarić, Nenad Berger (Neša), Nevena Sredljević (Nina), Ryu (Raja), Sanda Sredljević Aquilla (Sanda), serekeš, Stanley Berger, Tanja Nastić, TotalCmd, Vera Vraneš, Violet, zmajček, in serbian
9-XII-2025 - 25-III-2026