Seven house guests, a CT scan, roast lamb in the mountains and a rather remarkable 13-year-old. Just another week in my world.
Hello from a rather cold and misty mountainside in central Bosnia.
This time last week I was at home in the village with Tamara, and a house full of guests. Seven of them, to be precise.
And what a time we had.
We ate far, far too much, but hey, isn't that what life's about sometimes?
Good company, good food, lots of conversation and plenty of laughter.
The weather, unfortunately, didn't really want to play along. It was wet, miserable and generally rather unkind to us. Not exactly the sort of weather you want when you've got visitors staying, especially when some of them haven't seen much of this part of Bosnia before.
But on the second day things improved, thankfully, and we managed to get out for a walk around Banja Luka.
Tamara enjoyed showing people around the city. It's one of those places that doesn't necessarily shout about itself, but when you spend a little time wandering around, you begin to appreciate just how lovely it is.
I think our visitors enjoyed it too.
It was one of those weekends that leaves you feeling exceedingly tired afterwards, but in a very nice way.
A Little Bit of Medical Stuff
Now, something slightly different.
I've had my CT scan this week.
As some of you might know, I've been having a few medical investigations recently, and this was the next stage in trying to find out exactly what's going on.
I won't bore you with all the details, mainly because I don't know all the details myself yet.
But I do want to say something about the experience. It was absolutely first-class.
A young technician called Edwin, from Banja Luka, looked after me throughout the procedure. He'd also received his training here in Banja Luka, and I have to say he was brilliant. Professional, reassuring, friendly and explained everything as we went along.
Sometimes we hear so much negativity about healthcare here in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and yes, there are problems, but I think it's equally important to acknowledge the good experiences. And this was certainly one of them.
Tomorrow, Monday, I'm hoping to collect my results, and then hopefully see my consultant soon afterwards to find out what is what.
So I'll be pleased to get some answers.
Anyway, enough of the medical stuff for now.
Back in the Mountains. And There's Lamb!
Yesterday morning, Friday, Tamara and I left home at around nine o'clock and headed back towards Zenica.
By about one in the afternoon we'd arrived at the mountaineering club's hut, some 850 metres up the mountainside. And what a welcome.
There was already a lamb turning slowly on a spit.
Now, for those of you who don't know, I'm British, and I absolutely love lamb.
And there's something rather special about arriving somewhere in the Bosnian mountains, being greeted by friends, and discovering that lunch, or rather a very late lunch, is already roasting away over the fire.
We spent much of the afternoon chatting, catching up, and watching this rather magnificent animal slowly turn into what was going to be a wonderful meal.
I should mention that I'd brought something with me from home.
Mint sauce. Yes, mint sauce. The reaction was, shall we say, interesting.
I don't think my Bosnian friends quite knew what to make of this strange British habit of putting mint sauce on roast lamb.
There were some rather puzzled expressions, I can tell you.
I could probably write an entire Sunday Edition about mint sauce and the cultural differences surrounding roast lamb.
But I'll spare you that. For now anyway.
The weather up here, by the way, is bitterly cold. Normally the views from this mountainside are absolutely stunning. You can look out across the surrounding hills and valleys and just appreciate how beautiful central Bosnia really is.
Not today though.
The mist is hanging very, very low, and you can barely see anything.
But there's something rather nice about being tucked away in a mountain hut, surrounded by friends, while the mist rolls around outside.
Even if you do need an extra layer or two.
A Rather Remarkable Young Man
Now, you'd probably think the highlight of the past couple of days has been spending time with friends.
Or perhaps the food.
And you'd be right on both counts.
Food, as you might have gathered by now, is very close to my heart.
But actually, I think the real highlight has been meeting a young man called Anes.
Anes is 13 years old.
He's Bosnian, speaks absolutely first-class English, and I was genuinely impressed by him. He's articulate, intelligent, speaks very quickly, and seems remarkably aware of the world around him for someone of his age.
We got chatting, and I thought to myself, here's an opportunity.
I spend a lot of time on my podcast talking about Bosnia and Herzegovina from my perspective. The perspective of someone who came here from Britain, fell in love with the country, and eventually made it home.
But what about the perspective of someone who was actually born here?
And more importantly, someone who's just 13 years old?
How does he see his country? What does he like about living here? What would he change? And how does he imagine his future?
So I asked his mum and dad if they'd be happy for me to interview him for the podcast.
They said yes. And we recorded a conversation.
I'm not going to give too much away, because I really would like you to listen to it.
But I will say this.
Sometimes it's worth putting aside all the opinions, commentary and complicated explanations about Bosnia and Herzegovina, and simply listening to someone young who lives here.
I found it refreshing.
And I hope you will too.
The episode won't be out this coming Tuesday, but the Tuesday afterwards, 10 November.
I've still got the post-production to do, and I'm actually looking forward to putting it all together.
I think you'll enjoy meeting Anes.
A Little Experiment With This Edition
One final thing before I go.
This entire Sunday Edition has been put together on my mobile phone.
Yes, the whole thing.
I'm experimenting with using the Substack app on Android, along with a browser when needed, to see whether I can simplify the way I publish.
I'm writing these words on Saturday, sitting up here in the mountains, and there's something quite liberating about not having to sit in front of my computer to get things done.
Whether it all works as smoothly as I hope remains to be seen.
So if the formatting looks a little different this week, or something isn't quite where it normally is, you'll know why.
I'm trying something new. And at 73, that's a rather good thing to be doing.
Until Next Sunday
Wherever you are in the world, thank you for taking a few minutes to catch up with what's been happening in my little corner of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Do stay safe, look after yourselves, and I'll be back next Sunday.
Vidimo se opet.
David
From a cold and misty mountainside near Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
