Blue Skies, Five Puppies, a Health Scare and 600 Litres of Rakija

Another autumn week in our Bosnian village, with old friendships, reassuring news, podcasting adventures and a rather extraordinary amount of homemade rakija.

Hello again from our little corner of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It’s been another fairly normal week here in the shire. Although, when I sit down to write these Sunday editions, I often realise that what I consider normal these days might not be quite so normal somewhere else.

The weather is certainly changing. There’s a definite chill in the air now, especially first thing in the morning, and the leaves are beginning to fall in earnest.

But we’re also getting those wonderful, clear blue skies that I seem to go on about endlessly.

There’s something rather lovely about sitting outside for a few minutes, feeling the cold beginning to creep in, and then retreating into my little office, switching on the heating and getting all warm and cosy while looking out at the sunshine.

Autumn in Bosnia really can be rather beautiful.

Last Sunday I mentioned our weekend in Pepelari, near Zenica, where we’d been enjoying a bit of what the Americans call leaf peeping with our hiking friends.

This week has been a little quieter.

Well, mostly.

Five Tiny Visitors at the Gate

One of the less pleasant moments came when five absolutely tiny puppies appeared outside our gate.

Someone had obviously abandoned them.

It’s happened before, and sadly I suspect it won’t be the last time.

Now, I know what some of you might be thinking. Why didn’t we take them in? Why didn’t we find somewhere for them to go?

And I can understand that.

But Tamara and I simply cannot take responsibility for every abandoned animal that turns up outside our home.

We kept the gates closed.

That probably sounds terribly heartless, and believe me, it wasn’t a particularly comfortable decision.

I think some of the village children took a few of the puppies, while the others eventually wandered away. I don’t know what happened to all of them.

There are animal shelters here, of course, but many are already overwhelmed.

We know of one particularly wonderful shelter, supported by a Finnish woman and a Finnish animal welfare organisation. They look after around 220 dogs, which gives you some idea of the scale of the problem.

I also have concerns about how some other shelters are funded and managed. I sometimes wonder how much of the money donated or provided by municipalities actually reaches the animals themselves.

I can’t speak for every shelter, and there are undoubtedly people doing extraordinary work.

But the wider problem of abandoned animals isn’t going away.

And sometimes, living here means accepting that you simply cannot put everything right.

A Rather Personal Worry

Something else has been occupying my thoughts this week.

And I thought I’d share it with you.

I’ve been having a few medical investigations recently, following some urinary symptoms and an ultrasound examination.

My urologist wanted me to have a PSA blood test, which is used as part of the assessment for possible prostate problems, including cancer.

I’ll admit that the possibility of prostate cancer was sitting rather heavily on my mind.

I don’t think there’s much point pretending otherwise.

When you’re in your seventies, you become increasingly aware that the body you’ve been living in for all these years occasionally decides to remind you of its age.

The blood test results have now come back, and thankfully they were reassuring.

That’s been a considerable relief.

I still have a CT scan coming up, because there are other things my doctor wants to investigate, so we’re not quite at the end of the story yet.

But I’m feeling considerably more buoyant than I was a few days ago.

And if the news had been different?

Well, I suppose I’d have dealt with it.

What else can you do?

You face whatever comes along, make the best decisions you can, and carry on.

But for the moment, I’m very grateful for some encouraging news.

Two Old Media Luvvies Together Again

Wednesday brought a welcome visitor.

My old military colleague Rosie arrived for a few days of podcasting, technology and, inevitably, a fair amount of reminiscing.

Rosie and I served together in what was then the Media Operations Group, a British military reserve unit.

In fact, it was through that unit that I originally deployed to Bosnia all those years ago.

I eventually left the military while still here and continued working on the same project as a civilian.

Rosie and I have kept in touch over the years.

She’s now retired from the Army, having finished her career as a full colonel, and is developing her own podcast, The Frontline Voices Podcast.

It’s a fascinating project, looking at subjects such as human security, information security, food security and gender security, all from an international perspective.

She’s the driving force behind it. I’m simply helping with some of the technical and production side of things.

We’ve been spending four days working through the practical business of podcasting.

Recording, editing, uploading, managing websites and all those little things that nobody tells you about when you first decide to start a podcast.

We’ve also been exploring how artificial intelligence can be used sensibly as a research assistant and to help with some of the more routine production tasks.

Not to replace our own thinking or experience, but to support it.

Two old media luvvies learning new tricks, you might say.

Back in the day, we used to joke that radio people were luvvies and television people were darlings.

Perhaps you had to be there.

Anyway, we’ve made good progress, including launching another website, which I’ll be finishing off during the coming week.

And, most importantly, Rosie is becoming increasingly confident about managing the whole process herself.

That’s really the point of it all.

Being self-sufficient.

We’ve also been making plans for the future.

Not plans for Nigel, I hasten to add, although some of you of a certain age might recognise that reference.

There’s another full day of work to come, and then Rosie will be heading back to Zagreb to catch a Ryanair flight to London Stansted.

Ryanair, Retirement and Getting Back to Britain

Talking of Ryanair, I’ve been thinking about trying that route myself.

My nephew has already used the Stansted to Zagreb service, followed by the bus down to us here in Bosnia.

For years, when travelling back to Britain, I was more accustomed to flying with British Airways into Heathrow.

But times change.

And so do budgets.

Ryanair seems to be one of those companies that people either love or hate.

A bit like artificial intelligence, really.

But I’m increasingly interested in whether flying directly from Zagreb to Stansted might be a sensible option for future trips.

Not only from a logistical point of view, but also financially.

After all, when you’re living on a pension, those things matter.

I’ll give it a try at some point and see how it works out.

Friends, Football and a Little Croatian Wine

We’ve also got some rather nice things to look forward to over the next few weeks.

First, we’re hoping to welcome some of our friends from Zenica for a couple of nights.

The idea is to show them a little more of the area around Banja Luka, take them on a few short walks, visit some interesting places and generally enjoy being together.

It’s funny, isn’t it?

We spend so much time travelling to other parts of Bosnia that we sometimes forget just how much there is to show people closer to home.

Then, the following week, Tamara and I are planning to head back to Zenica.

And this time, we’re hoping to go to a football match.

Specifically, we want to see Čelik Zenica play at home.

I’ve been wanting to experience the atmosphere of a Bosnian football match for some time.

Not just watching the football itself, but hearing the supporters, experiencing the atmosphere and seeing how it all compares with what I remember from football back in Britain.

Fingers crossed we manage to get tickets.

And then, the weekend after that, we’re hoping to return to Kutjevo in Croatia for the wine festival.

We went last year with some of our friends from Zenica, and it was quite an experience.

We’re hoping one or two of them might join us again.

So, as you can see, life here is certainly not boring.

And Finally, 600 Litres of Rakija

I couldn’t possibly finish this week’s edition without mentioning rakija.

Yesterday we stopped by Tamara’s cousin’s vikendica, or weekend cottage, near Slatina.

And, as luck would have it, they were making rakija.

For those who haven’t experienced this particular Balkan tradition, rakija is a fruit spirit, often made from plums, although other fruits are used too.

Making it is as much a social occasion as it is a practical process.

And Rosie was lucky enough to see it happening.

That’s one of the things I love about life here.

You can’t always plan these experiences.

You can’t simply announce that you’re going to visit Bosnia in a fortnight and would like to watch somebody making rakija on the Tuesday afternoon.

It doesn’t quite work like that.

You have to be in the right place at the right time.

And sometimes, if you’re fortunate, somebody invites you into a part of everyday life that most visitors never get to see.

Today, Tamara’s father, Predrag, came back from spending time with relatives up on one of the local hills.

They’ve been making rakija too.

Apparently, they’ve produced 300 litres today.

And they’re planning another 300 litres tomorrow.

Six hundred litres of rakija!

Can you imagine?

I’d love to go up there with my camera and document the whole process.

But unfortunately, there are only so many hours in the day, and I’ve promised Rosie that we’ll finish our training together.

So the rakija photographs will have to wait for another opportunity.

Although somehow I suspect there’ll be another one.

Until Next Sunday

As I sit here finishing this, I’m looking out towards our sumac tree.

I’m still convinced some of its branches should be hanging much lower than they actually are.

But there you go.

The sky is that extraordinary shade of blue again, the leaves are coming down, and we’re settling into another Bosnian autumn.

It’s been a week of small pleasures, old friendships, a few worries and some welcome relief.

And perhaps that’s what life is mostly made of, wherever you happen to live.

Not grand adventures every day.

Just ordinary moments, occasionally interrupted by something unexpected.

Thank you, as always, for spending a little of your Sunday with me.

And from both Tamara and me, have a lovely week wherever you are.

I’ll be back next Sunday, hopefully arriving in your inbox at around 7 o’clock in the UK, or 8 o’clock here in Bosnia.

Until then, vidimo se opet.

We’ll see each other again.

And please, do look after yourselves.

Bye for now.