Dressing up

Summer is the season of youth, not for those in the "third age", for whom the only thing that matters is to survive until autumn. And then survive until spring. And so on - until the end...

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A friend writes to me: In the past, when meeting, the hat was slightly raised. Now the earphone is taken out of one ear. And as a sign of special respect – both are taken out.

The thing with the headphones refers to the young people of Bar, the older ones greet each other with the traditional August greeting: Will these people ever go home again!?

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As much as I feel bad that my sense of smell doesn't work in the spring, I'm so glad that I don't "hear" anything in the summer - neither sweat, nor sewage, nor burning...

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This August, we took the opportunity to go to our summer base, in Podbišće, near Mojkovac. We stayed there for less than five days, and it felt like we were fifty, we relaxed and refreshed so much. The Ćorićs manage to make all their guests come back again.

One night in Mojkovac took me back to the 1960s. I lay on the grass and counted the stars, like in my childhood in the garage, in Popovići, in Bar. I could stare at the stars and daydream for hours. Everything about daydreaming was repeated in Podbišće, as if I would walk the earth for at least another half century. That's because my thoughts are still young, full of optimism and faith in better days...

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There are people who are like sterile bees: they buzz a lot and give little honey. And they simply suffocate you with their kindness. When they no longer need you, they erase you like an eraser. And then they look for (and easily find) a new victim, because people, for the most part, are vain and proud and they enjoy flattery very much. And there is no one who does not love their flatterer, no matter how much they know that flattery will not last long...

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All six evenings of the literary program of the "Barski ljetopis" were different, interesting and very well attended. What they all had in common was that they were brimming with clever thoughts from people who, neither literally nor metaphorically, were from the same book. The participants were Ante Tomić, Enes Halilović, Edin Krnić, Vanja Kovačević, Samir Adžović, Mirjana Bobić Mojsilović, Tanja Banjanin, Semezdin Mehmedinović (via video beam), Nikola Nikolić, Nađa Durković, Goran Marković, Miodrag Lekić, Vladimir Vujović and Dragan Šoć. Some were hosting a literary evening for the first time and did an excellent job in that role.

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I have no idea what's going on in the political scene in Montenegro. And I have less and less. My generation overthrew the DPS, and it's up to the younger generation to overthrow the current government as soon as possible, if it continues to resemble the previous one.

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When she announced in May 2024 that she had cancer, many did not believe her. And just two years and three months later, she went "into the no-signal area." Vedrana Rudan has always been (painfully) honest.

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I only read two books in the entire summer – “The Writing House” by Semezdin Mehmedinović and “The Gardener and Death” by Georgi Gospodinov, which a normal reader would have “mastered” in a few days. I was simply not in shape. And I wouldn’t have mastered them if they weren’t extremely interesting, emotional, small in scope, and technically flawless.

I didn't write anything in August. When I'm not reading or writing, I don't even blog. Reading and writing are connected like twins...

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By denying the joy of the first day of school, due to the horrific crime in Danilovgrad, we have unfortunately hastily introduced the most innocent and pure souls of Montenegro into our world of cruelty and immorality. I guess they will, one day, make it better.

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Less than three years were left before the great Yugoslav and Croatian musician with a distinctive voice, Stjepan Džimi Stanić, turned 100. He passed away on the penultimate day of August. I often played his melancholic songs on Radio Bar's "Promenada", especially "All My Autumns Are Sad", but also "Jutro će promjeniti sve", "Kaži, zašto me ostavi" and others.

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It has become a luxury, it is dirtier than before, Beli, who took care of it with his team, is gone, but Tiho, Brano are here... the same sand, the same transparent sea, the same feeling of satisfaction, the only one - the Queen's Beach!