So, Pavla is Lacko, I am Ferko and Ilona is Jarko, after the dobermans (a year and a half old and forty kilos each!) owned by the Bulgarian who rents Miroslav a room for ten pounds a month. He was selling the Big Issue ("Nota Bene") and I think Ilona initially got a good vibe from him. Our soups and beers were very tasty, so we invited him to join us.
Eventually he believed we weren't playing some cruel joke, and again eventually he stopped being overly grateful. German at home and Russian at school, and smatterings of Spanish, Italian, English and French with the other tenants of the Bulgarian landlord. German at home was a sign of high status, before the communists got rid of that sort of thing. Born 5.6 kilos, and a crooked spine because of it, and apparently the name of my pouch is a forget-me-not (nezábudka, from his leatherworking days). And beautiful women, dogs called Socrates and a lot more besides.
Once he reached the dobermans, he was totally relaxed, and speaking as he would in any normal situation. At this point, him being a Slovak and 49, there was a good chance of the gypsies and the Hungarians coming up (like the way bile comes up), and that's the test - insincere humouring or challenging it. But he was such a thoroughly good, balanced and open-minded bloke that that test didn't arise.
When it was time to go, we said a completely normal goodbye. Having had a comically melodramatic and reverent hello which was quite embarassing, this was maybe the nicest part. Bratislava is a small place, so I'm sure we will see him again. I kind of hope he doesn't bring the dogs, though.
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3 comments:
How is the quality of Nota Bene compared to The Big Issue?
Dobermans are the big scary looking ones with the long noses, aren't they?
*cringes at the inaneness of her own comment*
Yes, those are the doberpersons.
My Slovak is sadly far from being good enough to read Nota Bene, although I suspect its quality is similar to that of TBI, given the attitude of people I know who buy it.
I imagine this blog to be about natural communication, and inanity is an undeniable part of that.
Please tell me how to get recent comments appearing in a box. I tried what I thought the instructions sauid, but a) it didn't work and be b) any excuse for a chat.
There's an email coming your way with the code from mine in it. Copy and paste that into an extra page element box in your layout, change the feeds so they come from your blog instead of mine and then you can play about with the border styles and colours at will. The only thing I haven't figured out (but would like to) is how you stop your own comments appearing in the box. If you find out, let me know!
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