Blogs we like

I caught the 2nd half of ‘A History of Violence’ last night. I remember seeing it at the pictures and thinking it possibly the worst film ever made. My opinion hasn’t changed. How Mark Kermode (who is a hero of mine!) can rate it I’ll never know.

There are indeed some very strange channels on this cable setup. One called 21 Junior just has weird and awful Eastern European songs sung and danced to by little brat kids 24/7. It’s very bizarre and a bit disturbing. Oh for Sky Sports News.

This morning I had a mini-adventure to find an ATM so I could pay for another night in this guesthouse. Apparently the nearest one is just 10 minutes up the hill. Well it’s right back down the other side again and the road splits numerous times without a clear obvious route to take, I got there in the end though and at least I now have an idea of the route to town. I’m hoping there will be some sort of travel agents there to get my next bus ticket rather than having to go on a right mission to the central (or not so central) bus station.

To make up for rising accommodation and transport costs I picked up some supplies while I was out. For €4.40 I got 2 croissants, a carton of apple juice, pasta, pasta sauce, some meat for the pasta and pepper. That’s my next 4 meals taken care of, not bad eh.

I got back to the hostel and paid ‘The Professor’ the dosh for the room no probs. The Professor is what the fella who runs the place calls himself, he’s a bit of an old character and delighted in telling me that he studied in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne between 1971-1975.

‘Solaris’ has just come on telly now and I should really be getting out and hunting for a bus ticket but I’ve never seen it and it’s only 90 minutes so it has to be done, i don’t half miss my films. Mini review of sorts here as always.

I see on the news that Bazza O has won the Nobel Peace Prize. Ridiculous if you ask me, what has he actually achieved yet? I hope he goes onto do something that warrants such an award but all he has done so far is talk (very well I might add), all politicians can do that.

In the end I did have to go to the main station to get my ticket. I walked into town and had a look about but couldn’t find any travel agents that would sell tickets. So then I got a taxi to the station at a pre-arranged (I always do this as so many of the taxi drivers in these parts try it on) price of 3 Euros and tried to pay attention to the route so I could walk it back (which worked a bit, kind of, well I had to go back on myself a couple of times but it was dark by this time so that didn’t help!). I got the ticket and it was 16 Euros leaving tomorrow at 17:45 and taking about 7 hours.

So as I’m not going to be getting the bus to Montenegro in the morning at I thought (there is one but it’s at 7 so I’d have to be up at 5ish and I’ve not had much sleep lately as it is) I’ll have most of the day to have another look round Pristina. I’ve not been very impressed so far but granted I’ve not explored that much yet. What has been doing my head in is the roads here, cars are always parked on the pavements so you have to walk in the road a lot constantly avoiding traffic and often having to crisscross. Red lights and green men don’t seem to mean much in these parts either. The ying to that yang is I’m liking using the € again.

The fact that I’m here all day tomorrow also meant I could eat out this eve and use my remaining supplies for lunch before I leave the guesthouse. I found a cheap little place called Pizziera Rona. 3.50 for a decent pizza and a bottle of the local pilsner, Peja (very nice).

I’ve listened to another couple of albums today offline with Spotify (will ya shut up already about that!). ‘200 Million Thousand’ by Black Lips was first up. It’s very much in the same garage-rock vein as their previous outing, ‘Good Bad Not Evil’ and it’s reasonable enough but the killer tunes that it’s predecessor had just aren’t there this time round, so ultimately it’s a disappointment for me. The other album was ‘Dropping the Writ’ by Cass McCombs. It’s appealing to me more with every listen so far, reminding me of Elliott Smith in a lot of ways. Goodie gumdrops is the initial verdict.

Another film was also somehow squeezed in earlier, ‘Semi-Pro’ with Will Ferrell. My thoughts are in the same place as my ‘Solaris’ ones. I will say that Will Ferrell could make me laugh reading the dictionary though, genius that fella.

I’m currently sat trying to sort a hotel for Podgorica for when I arrive at about 1 in the morning tomorrow night (that’s a paradox right there that is), is a ball ache and taking ages (to do it cheaply anyway). I’ve just booked 2 nights at a nice looking hostel for Kotor afterwards though. It’s not very far from Podgorica so it should be pretty easy to get to, that’s what I’m hoping anyway.

Today’s best search ‘buy a jar of gypsy tears’. Maybe I should start floggin’ them on here?