It is, of course, a platitude: Even the oldest Barani do not remember this kind of heat... but it is true that there has never been such a hot and sticky summer. I wanted to make myself smart, so I asked a woman from Podgorica, at the opening of the "Bar Chronicle", "Do you know what our only defense is against this firecracker?"
"I do not know."
"How is it in Podgorica!"
"I was in Podgorica today, but it's easier to breathe there, there's not this much moisture in the air," she replied and froze my smile, at over 30 degrees.
* * *
The people of Crmni are blocking the Sozin tunnel for the third time. Objectively, they are protesting for legitimate reasons. But they are mistaken if they think that with these blockades, in the middle of the summer and tourist season, they have won the sympathy of the citizens.
* * *
The most beautiful decoration on the main town square in Bar is the fountain. She worked all winter. This summer, when she is most needed, she does not make a sound. The hooligans (I guess the hooligans didn't deal with the fountain) managed to damage its electrical supply, and the repair is taking (too) long...
* * *
I'm still wondering about something in the local Public Service, so I don't comment on daily political events, and I barely follow them. I don't know who quarreled and over what, nor who reconciled. I only know that if I like a certain minister, he won't be eating young tomatoes for long in that Government, as Šojić would say, whose foolishness, it seemed, was not an exaggeration.
* * *
To me, this summer, everything in Bar catering establishments looks different, worse. Pizzas are harder, with fewer ingredients, pies full of dough, sometimes gooey, meat on the grill less tasty, etc. I don't know, maybe it just seems to me... Maybe I'm influenced by those who say that good chefs went to Croatia, where better paid.
* * *
I'm not in shape. I guess because I got a virus in the middle of June. If my godfathers, the Markovićs, had not brought Jergović's "War" from Belgrade, I would have remained, for the first time since I learned letters, without reading a book in the summer. And when I'm not reading, I'm not writing. "War" is an unusual, very readable book. Jergović showed that he is a master of imagination.
* * *
The "Bar Chronicle" began spectacularly with a concert by the opera artist Tamara Rađenović. That initial breakthrough is not easy to follow, so now it seems as if the festival is stagnating a bit. The summer scene in Topolica swallowed up the play "Peaceful Bosnia", Chamber Theater 55 from Sarajevo. In the home theater, the actors are surrounded by the audience on all sides, here there was a gaping void around them. Not even four excellent actors, led by my friend Feđ Štukan, were able to revive that void.
So far, two Bar books have been promoted on "Ljetopis" - Maksim Lutovac's "Comrade", posthumously, and my "Bar Stories 4". Both times, on the plateau in front of the House of Revolution, a beautiful Bar gathered.
We are eagerly waiting for "The Executioner", this year's festival production. Two of the four main actors (including the director) of this play are from Bar. For a start – enough.
* * *
And we are waiting for the executor on Wednesday, July 31, at the DG Arena in Podgorica, where Mornar will be chasing a one-goal deficit in the return match of the second round of pre-qualifications for the Conference League, against Radnički from Kragujevac.
Last year, at this time, Montenegrin representatives, Budućnost, Sutjeska and Arsenal, experienced a debacle on the Euro stage. These, everything looks much better. Mornar will have a tougher job than Dečić and Budućnost in the second leg. On the last day of July, a large number of Barani are expected to check whether Podgorica is really cooler this summer (because of less humidity) than in Bar.
* * *
May I, for God's sake, end this blog with a lasciviousness from "Bar Tales 4"? Oh, I can, why not, it's summer.
The ever-grin of the unforgettable teacher from Stari Bar, Rado Ivanović, reads: "If it was two centimeters from my ass, it would never have caught up with me again!"
Bonus video:
