Splitting hairs

Today is Sveti Dugi’s day in Split – Sveti Duje is the saint that watches over Split – seems to be doing an ok job, will keep him on – and the town is having a fiesta weekend – stalls, music, theatre. And to cap it all off, joy of joy, it is a hundred years since the Hajduk Football team started – so a bit of football celebration (not exactly sure of the format there, but guess it will include a football game (goodness, its hard for me not to say soccer!)). Imagine, the passion of all of those football players celebrating such an important anniversary!

So off to Split for the day for me. Every time I jump on the bus to Split the price is different – this one is 47 kuna, last time it was 43.. There are some other things that continue to surprise me – the absolute blue beauty of the Adriatic Sea and the way that the Biokovo Mountains rise so steeply from the coast as the bus races to Split, just for the start of my list.

And the green market – the smells and the colours and the sounds - the cheeses, the breads, the figs and honey, the salamis and the flowers are all there. Wooden spoons, ironware, picks, brooms. I guess if it’s not in the market in Split, you just don’t need it.
I wasn’t surprised by the stands with petitions to be signed to have Gotovina acquitted (all right, we will get there soon, just need to make sure I have my facts straight, be patient). Interesting to see so many young people involved.

I wasn’t amazed that the bus driver on the way home was smoking while he was driving the bus. I’ve struck that a few times now…

But I was surprised when we got stuck in a traffic jam, and here’s the thing. There is a piece of road just as you leave Split which has been dug up to have new pipes of some sort laid – the road has been one way since I arrived in Croatia – not a problem, usually there is someone to direct the traffic to keep it flowing. Today the traffic stopped and we waited in the heat (while the driver smoked) for 20 minutes. Horns were tooting, people got out of their cars and stood around talking. I heard the word ‘katastrofa’ muttered. Sirens wailed and the police arrived (they have these cute little lollipop stop/go signs). And what had happened was that as there was no one at the point to say which traffic direction was to go first, the first two cars on the scene were at an impasse, and neither would back down to let the traffic flow. Until someone called the policija, who brandished their lollipop signs, and the traffic flowed again. Twenty minutes with two cars having a standoff over who should proceed first. I’m still surprised as I write this (but maybe in a month or so I won’t be!)