Thursday, September 02, 2010

MORE BALKAN MAGIC IN MACEDONIA

Martin Rickitt and myself in Skopje the capital of the small Balkan republic of Macedonia whose recent efforts to progress towards EU membership are thwarted by Greek objections to the name of the state as there is also a Greek province by the same name. Its uses the Cyrillic alphabet and has been independent of Yugoslavia for around 20 years. It is somewhat set in a time warp, certainly bus wise where there were some absolute gems to be seen. As usual the hard work filming was broken by the occasional bottle of beer.The Stone Bridge and castle are amongst the few attractions of the capital although as elsewhere on the trip we were always very safe and people most willing to help. Pity about the absence of bus route maps which would be very helpful. The urban buses were I think state or municipal whilst long distance buses a large range of private companies. Lots more to bring you on the trip over coming days or even weeks. News from nearer home , The Three Greyhounds reopened last Friday night , we'll be there for ouyr usual Thursday evening drink, a temporary management company providing the service with the old staff back on duty. The goldfinches are back on the Niger seed in the garden, frost killed the Busy Lizzies whilst I was away, autumn is around the corner. Last night i nearly finished the images for Part Two on New South Wales bus archives 74-84. I'll get that wrapped up tonight , just the sound to put on.

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