I poked my nose through the shutters at eight this morning before I left the apartment to see what sort of temperature it was outside, and then had to add a few layers of clothes. Entertainment is limited on a wet windy day – and it is incredibly windy today. I grabbed an umbrella from the stock at the front door and by the time I had walked to the shop where the man sells the most delicious prsut, the life of the umbrella had come to an end – blown inside out and I was just left with a broken rib cage. I threw the deranged skeleton into the first bin that I passed, thinking that I would now be drenched. But the wind was blowing so hard it was blowing the rain away!
I spent an hour in the library hunting through the discarded books in a pile on the floor, trying to decide which books to borrow next. This is a library like no other – l love it, it is so disorganizedly organized, books every – and it smells of cigarettes because the librarians obey the no smoking signs by hanging out the windows to smoke.
It’s a funny how quickly you get used to seeing Croatian as the written word, and it takes a moment to register when a book is in English – or German, as some of the books are. It’s the same with music lyrics – it takes a few seconds of a song in a café until I register that the song is actually in English. I have re-organized the books into German /English/ French, with a sub-pile of books that I will never read even if they are the only books left in the library. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is there, as is Jane Austin. There are lots of Jeffrey Archer. I grabbed a biography of Billy Connolly for today.
Last week I grabbed a book called “Sixpence in her Shoe” which said it was about the oldest profession in the world. I thought it was going to be about the history of prostitution, but it was on how to be a good housewife!! It told me that my role as a wife was to make my husband’s life more simple – it said that women should not work, unless it was a non-stressful part time job that ensured that we were home to greet our husbands when they finished their important day. I tried desperately to finish that book. I tried desperately to take the book seriously… It would have been more interesting as a book about prostitution…
From the library, down through the narrow streets into the centar, looking for a coffee - Too windy in the main cafes – they have shut the shutters and are huddling inside smoking. No one on the riva, just the fishing boats rocking in the harbour. A comment was made yesterday that there are about 10,000 people living in Makarska, but you get to see the same 500 wherever you go. It’s true – this morning I spotted about 5 of the people from Vosac, all doing their morning thing, all sheltering from the weather, all with a friendly ‘dobar dan’.
I had arranged to meet a friend in the park at two o’clock – she is in between jobs and hopes that if she brushes up on her English it will be a further feather in her employment cap – and in return I will practice my Croatian with her. The wind was whipping the park, so we backed ourselves into a smoky corner in a cafe and entertained ourselves for two hours over a couple of coffees.
And that was my day. It’s raining gently as I write this – I’ve popped my basil seedlings in the shelter from the wind – yes, I’m gardening - I’m just hoping that this will be the last of the wintery blows and that the sun shines for the next few weeks at least.
Oh and by the by - today I ate a ‘strudel s sirom’ - I thought it was strudel with cream before I read the label – and it was strudel filled with something that looked liked cream but had the consistency of cottage cheese or feta cheese, not sweet, but not savoury. The jury is still out. Will try the cokolada one tomorrow.
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