Go Wild In The Country
My curiosity was struck recently by a typically quirky story of the type that regularly features in tabloids and at the end of news shows worldwide. This report involved a plucky pensioner who pulled herself out of a deep well. Using only her bare hands, the eighty-year-old woman had to scramble out of the eleven-metre well after she fell in while trying to fetch water at her home in the southern Serbian village of Ivanje.
It appears that this elderly woman got out of the situation a little shaken but not at all stirred by her dilemma. After climbing back to dry land, the unperturbed Visiljka Lazović said, “I got fed up with waiting for someone to come and rescue me. It was getting cold so I climbed out myself.” Apparently it is true what that say: they don’t make them like that anymore.
Look Up To See What You Could Be Missing
Malcolm McLaren once tipped me off to a useful piece of advice for when visiting a new city for the first time. This wasn’t any great insight or revelation that McLaren felt compelled to share with me personally: it was the fortunate outcome a television programme that he was presenting.
In this show, the entertainment Svengali brought to life the characters of London’s historic underbelly by pointing out evidence of their homes and business premises visible above the familiar twentieth century storefronts.
Red Star Rising Over The Future of Serbian Football
Football pundits have been quick to sound the death knell over Serbian football since the country’s two top teams crashed out of the UEFA Champions League in less than spectacular fashion. It did not help when Serbia’s national coach made some bizarre comments about his favoured results in the forthcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers. The comments of Vladimir Petrović appear to aim below target for the national team and deserve questioning, even given the injury-struck squad.
But, while the disappointment for Partizan and Red Star Belgrade fans is palpable, the significance should not be overplayed. Rather than bad-mouthing individuals or clubs, now is the time to address the cause of this glitch and put in place the necessary elements to prevent it recurring. Serbian football must prove that there is life in the old dog yet.
All In Good Taste: Savour The Flavour Of The Serbian Kitchen
Prior to my first visit to the Balkans, I was warned that I might find it difficult to spend any length of time there. Thankfully, I ignored their words – as I have a habit of doing – and jumped on a plane. That was five years ago and I have returned nearly twenty times.
Their words of caution were not related to the usual issues. They were because I do not eat meat. They believed that the Serbs’ meat-rich fare would leave me on a diet of cucumber and tomato (which wouldn’t be so bad, as Serbia has some of the best produce I have ever tasted).
