It is almost the end of the year so it is time for the traditional year reviews. I start with an alternative 2018 year review for Belgrade, the dynamic capital of Serbia and the place where I live.
When I captured the photo above I thought it was a historic moment: it was at one day at the beginning of this year when they started to remove the cars illegally parked in front of the police station at Savska street. Later it was clear why: a couple of cars with state officials passed. Not much later the cars were parked back again and never left….. The hope for returning of the rule of law in front of the police station was vanished again….
Signs which forbid things…Yeah if this stray dog would care….
The the cat of Košančicev Venac, he or she (sorry I don’t do gender neutral stuff) also doesn’t give a damn about signs. Why would he (or she)? She (or he) is the queen of Košančicev Venac, because of her royal behaviour. I met her almost every day when I was walking from my work to the bus stop, so I know what I am talking about.
The leakage on Studentski Trg: Halfway September I noticed that this fire pump was leaking. As a good Belgrader I am I reported it to my Twitter friends of prijavi problem. That’s a Twitter account from the city and they manage to fix these things. This Twitter service works pretty well, but also sometimes not. The pump was repaired within a week by the water company, but they left it like this and so a month long Twitter battle was fought. But it is repaired, thanks me, you will not find any more a leaking fire brigade pump or a hole on this spot. And if you do ? Then Twitter to prijavi problem !
The picture above captured civil unrest: people from the street Topličin Venac protested against the removal of this tree and other trees in their street. The workers from Zeleno Beograd (the public company responsible for parks etc) gave up and accepted the rakija which was offered to them (wise to do at 08h00 when you still have a hole day to go). But they came back when nobody was there. City council 1 – Citizens of Belgrade 0
Traffic jams in Belgrade should not be in a year overview: there are so many in Belgrade, that it should be in an hourly review… Thanks god I imported,without declaring him, this dog. Just to keep you animated during the traffic jams….
Part of these traffic jams are caused by cars who are parked on the middle of the road and as a kind of frustration I use youtube these days, that helps as well.
This sentence I found on a small market in front of Serbia’s biggest Orthodox church (and actually one of the biggest Orthodox church on earth). Actually Europe is nothing without Serbia (“bre” can not be translated properly in English), how else you would travel from North to South and from West to East ?
Just a regular day while driving in New Belgrade, we were animated by this man who was trowing balls and asked some money afterwards. Of course I gave him, because he was original and he made me smiling: Svaki čast bre, hvala !
Only in Belgrade, a line for burek (=Red sa burek), at the bakery. What is burek ? I am not a foody so best to go the friends of serbia.com.
As you maybe Belgrade is located in two parts of Europe: Central Europe and the Balkans. When I moved to Serbia I told my family & friends in W-Europe that I moved to Central Europe which is true as I moved to New Belgrade (Novi Beograd).
No way I would live between those Serbian savages south of the Sava river (=which is the geographical border between the Balkans and Central Europe). Until 1918 this was proper & decent Austro-Hungarian territory.
The difference in mentality is,according to my -hardcore Zemun- friends still applicable according to them. When I just measure it by the Christmas lights hanging in public space I can conclude they must be right: where Zemun has just a bit of Christmas lights, Belgrade’s Christmas lights can be seen from space….
Zemun Christmas decorationsBelgrade Christmas decorations
The picture below captures it all: the excessive Belgrade Christmas decorations in front of a broken pavement (this is the Kneze Mihailova street, the main street of Belgrade). My Twitter friends could not manage to solve this after a month….
Brate mili ( another expression I cannot translate into English, Dutch or whatever language), a lot needs to be done next year in Belgrade!
When I captured the photo above I thought it was a historic moment: it was at one day at the beginning of this year when they started to remove the cars illegally parked in front of the police station at Savska street. Later it was clear why: a couple of cars with state officials passed. Not much later the cars were parked back again and never left….. The hope for returning of the rule of law in front of the police station was vanished again….
Signs which forbid things…Yeah if this stray dog would care….
The the cat of Košančicev Venac, he or she (sorry I don’t do gender neutral stuff) also doesn’t give a damn about signs. Why would he (or she)? She (or he) is the queen of Košančicev Venac, because of her royal behaviour. I met her almost every day when I was walking from my work to the bus stop, so I know what I am talking about.
The leakage on Studentski Trg: Halfway September I noticed that this fire pump was leaking. As a good Belgrader I am I reported it to my Twitter friends of prijavi problem. That’s a Twitter account from the city and they manage to fix these things. This Twitter service works pretty well, but also sometimes not. The pump was repaired within a week by the water company, but they left it like this and so a month long Twitter battle was fought. But it is repaired, thanks me, you will not find any more a leaking fire brigade pump or a hole on this spot. And if you do ? Then Twitter to prijavi problem !
The picture above captured civil unrest: people from the street Topličin Venac protested against the removal of this tree and other trees in their street. The workers from Zeleno Beograd (the public company responsible for parks etc) gave up and accepted the rakija which was offered to them (wise to do at 08h00 when you still have a hole day to go). But they came back when nobody was there. City council 1 – Citizens of Belgrade 0
Traffic jams in Belgrade should not be in a year overview: there are so many in Belgrade, that it should be in an hourly review… Thanks god I imported,without declaring him, this dog. Just to keep you animated during the traffic jams….
Part of these traffic jams are caused by cars who are parked on the middle of the road and as a kind of frustration I use youtube these days, that helps as well.
This sentence I found on a small market in front of Serbia’s biggest Orthodox church (and actually one of the biggest Orthodox church on earth). Actually Europe is nothing without Serbia (“bre” can not be translated properly in English), how else you would travel from North to South and from West to East ?
Just a regular day while driving in New Belgrade, we were animated by this man who was trowing balls and asked some money afterwards. Of course I gave him, because he was original and he made me smiling: Svaki čast bre, hvala !
Only in Belgrade, a line for burek (=Red sa burek), at the bakery. What is burek ? I am not a foody so best to go the friends of serbia.com.
As you maybe Belgrade is located in two parts of Europe: Central Europe and the Balkans. When I moved to Serbia I told my family & friends in W-Europe that I moved to Central Europe which is true as I moved to New Belgrade (Novi Beograd).
No way I would live between those Serbian savages south of the Sava river (=which is the geographical border between the Balkans and Central Europe). Until 1918 this was proper & decent Austro-Hungarian territory.
The difference in mentality is,according to my -hardcore Zemun- friends still applicable according to them. When I just measure it by the Christmas lights hanging in public space I can conclude they must be right: where Zemun has just a bit of Christmas lights, Belgrade’s Christmas lights can be seen from space….
