late transmission

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One week down and its time to put the bloke’s perspective on things. At the time of writing, your roving reporter is on the ground in a place called Kremna, a little village 240 kms south west of Belgrade in Western Serbia.

London was terrific, with the Westminster Abbey and Tower of London being the highlight. Went to the Sherlock Holmes museum in Baker St. So, so. Still trying to work out how you can have a museum for a fictional character! If you’ve got some spare cash, stuff the stock market. Invest in local business on the East side of town, particularly lawyers who specialize in Immigration law. Judging by the look of the local populace, it’s fair to say that it is a growth industry lead by a gent called Ahjay Bagwan who seems to dominate the scene in the Whitechapel area. Suffice to say that Jack the Ripper may have had a different clientele if he plied his trade 120 years later!

The visit to Wembley for the FA Cup was sensational. I have told the boys that there is no point in buying any Christmas or birthday presents in future as they won’t come close to the present they bought this time. On to the game itself, it’s good to see that the officiating is of a similar standard to our own in the AFL. You may have spotted a degree of indifference to the officiating. You’re right! The pricks cost me 250 quid on the half time /full time double! The bet was placed with a reputable organization called BetFred so winning may have been the easy part, collecting may have not have been as simple!

The Aintree Grand National was on just before the game. Standing in the crowd listening to the comments as the carnage unfolded in front of us, I realized just how similar in outlook we are to mainstream Poms! They did have me tittering so. I could have been standing at my local TAB and the comments would have been the same. My homesickness eased!

Moving onto Serbia, it’s fair to say that the comparison between Belgrade and Kremna is as stark as Broady and Toorak. We landed in Belgrade on Sunday and after what was a pretty emotional reunion with family, we stayed the night with our niece. Close by was what I thought was a derelict tenement. Turns out it was a shanty town full of gypsies! They live in squalor with kids out on the street begging. An eye opener in the extreme. I then asked what the government response to this is and it involves hearding them out of one place so they immediately set up shop on the next vacant land they find. Not a good first impression.

We moved on to Kremna and met my sister for the first time. If Belgrade was emotion charged, then this went to another level. My niece Dragana, Dee, John and his partner Jan knew something was up when I didn’t say anything for the last 30 mins of a 4 hour trip. My sister is a lady of 65 years much better looking than my good self fortunately. We sat and chatted for a while and she gave me a lot of info about my dad’s life in the old country. Some I wanted to hear, some I didn’t but you can’t change the past!

Kremna is located in a rugged alpine region of the country where my niece has built a fantastic house. By Belgrade standards, it is a palace! Sensational views surround the place. My niece is suggesting that we build a house here for retirement purposes. Not a bad idea. The local brew is cheap and is called Jelen. You can buy it in 2 litre plastic bottles for under $2 at the local milk bar! It is a tradition that you start the day with a Serbian tea which is predominantly slivovitz (plum brandy) that’s runs about 42%. It would appear that Slivovitz is part of the staple diet as that it carries over to lunch and dinner. No wonder the locals are so laid back …they’re half pissed!!!

Anyway enough for now.

Regards to all

Steve

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Photos

Kusac village
Most of the village is falling down as almost no one lives here on a permanent basis [few chooks and dogs]. However, note the satelite dish on the roof!

kusac hard boys
Steve, uncle Trivo & John. Uncle Trivo is 83 and as deaf as a post - it didn't stop him from telling stories about Tutta Nicola.

Walking to the cemetery
Milinkovic family cemetery outside Kusac - most of the family is buried here. There is a memorial for Tutta Nicola here as well.

Darwin Stubby
This is a 25L bottle of home made rakia - to get the grog out Branko had to use a syphon [mind you, he did have a good gulp of the stuff before decanting it into into a smaller bottle!]