Bad things in Belgrade
Winter is closing in on Belgrade and the blogging community is starting to feel a bit grumpy so i decided to join the band wagon and do a repost of the long lost “Bad things in Belgrade” list. You are free to add to the list or to disagree – i know there are a lot of generalizations there, and a lot of things that can be said for many other cities/countries as well, but don’t blame me, i only picked the stuff up from around the net as i saw them.
Here it goes, in random, almost alphabetical order:
- Always different price for the same distance in a cab.
- Bicycle path that’s not in very good condition – how expensive can it be to make it a bit more respectable?
- Buss drivers racing eachother.
- Cab drivers playing obnoxious music and smoking while you have to listen or try to rebel if you make an assesment that you can handle the discussion.
- Cars parked in a way so you have to get around them. Belgrade generally has a huge parking problem – too many cars and too little space, particularly in the city center. In case of such a car, lift one of its winshield wipers in an upright position. Leaving an angry note is also considered a common way of expressing your dissatisfaction but you wont have the time for that, and its a great chance that the owner speaks only serbian so it won’t matter much to him. If you happen to have a knife, you can punctuate the tires or scratch the paint with a key.
- Cars, trucks, busses, chariots parked in the middle of the busy street (especially Bulevar Revolucije and Vojvode Stepe).
- Children who are without control and unatended, climbing other people, shouting, screaming and being generally irritating.
- Dirty toilets seem to be trademarks of some cafes and restaurants. Everybody has given up on public restrooms a long time ago.
- Dog doodoo all over the place. Nobody collects after their pets here, and even if the law would be enforced, it would probably be neglected.
- Elections, when the whole city is a bilboard and the smiling faces of candidates look at you from everywhere – be prepared this December.
- Enourmous holes in some streets in the center, and even more of those outside of center that don’t come from the bombing, but look like they do. They fix them fast, they appear even faster.
- Even though the streets are being washed daily, its impossible for washers to keep up with those who litter. Those who litter the most, on the other hand complain that street washers are just too slow and lazy.
- Expensive new cars and SUVs that don’t respect red traffic lights.
- Getting a bubble gum instead of the change in a shop. A good trick is to collect those bubble gums and return them one day in exchange for… one bread, for example.
- Grafitti that don’t make much sense. If you’re goning to destroy a wall, at least do it with style.
- Hell for drivers and drivers from hell.
- Improperly installed air-conditions that drip so you have to avoid being dripped on while walking about.
- Jaywalkers with a deathwish.
- Lazy and not-so-kind waiters. Least they can do is smile, least that you can do is not tip them.
- Making traditional specialty «Sour cabbage» in the basement of a building. That way, everyone gets to enjoy the smell, not only those making it.
- Underground passage in Zeleni Venac with all the sellers and buyers in it.
- People getting into a buss before you go out.
- People talking on a cell phone or fixing make-up while trying to park.
- People who don’t use soap as much as they should (especially in public transportation).
- People who terorize other people with their mobile phones: usually obnoxiously loud with idiotic conversations, or teenagers checking the melodies on their cell phone with full volume.
- People who urinate in building entrances and haustors.
- Rasists and xenophobes are not a majority of any country or city, but they usually make a lot of noise, so it seems there are more of them. And thats irritating.
- Rebuilding, upbuilding, sub-building and all kinds of «art» works on an existing object without style, taste, persmission and regularly not adequate with the environment nor surroundings. Usually these works require a big chunk of sidewalk for keeping concrete, sand, wires and other construction material.
- Roads and streets under construction for all eternity.
- Senior citizens – old enough to be consideres endangered species, but strong enough to fight for the best strategic position before the buss stops at the station so they can enter first.
- Some people hate stray dogs, others hate non-humane ways of taking them off the streets. In any way, stray dogs can represent a problem when your riding a bicycle.
- Spitting on the streets, usually like its a kind of olympic sport.
- Strahinica Bana Street can be irritating, not only to those who live in that street, but to the passers-by. If you’re interested what values are appreciated in Belgrade these days, take a walk down this street in a warm evening.
- Taking roasted pigs, lambs or similar stuff with you in any kind of public transportation won’t get you any friends.
- Changing names of the streets is equally irritating for locals as it is for you.
- Taxi drivers who don’t know to find your destination.
- Taxi drivers who tune their taxi meters so that they run faster, ergo making your wallet thinner don’t try thier luck only on foreigners, but on locals too. The solution is to be stronger than the taxi driver or to ask for the bill with the vehicle number and company name and to try and report the driver if you feel you’ve been had.
- Taxi vehicles falling apart while you’re riding them.
- The train station and the area around it are some of the worst in Belgrade. This could be the place of your first sight of Belgrade, because a lot of foreigners come to Belgrade by train. Don’t be frightened, it’s not all like that.
- Trash being left by the dumpster, not in the dumpster.
- Trash dumpsters on fire and people who set trash dumpters on fire.
- Trying to throw in the trash in a dumpster without getting out of a building or room.
- Unkind clerks, salesmen, and all kinds of unkind people.
- Using a car horn in every possible ocassion, like that is going to improve the situation.
Frankly, i don’t know what to do with the list once it’s finished (will it ever be finished?) so if you have any clever suggestions just shoot. Should i mail it to someone?
I also noticed that a lot of these problems are related directly to people. I assume that people make cities what they are. Luckily i think that the ‘love list’ is much longer than the ‘hate list’. I’ll start making it as soon as it gets warmer – you guys are free to start even earlier if you feel like it.
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You post an article from a writer for Salon, which was noted for its anti-Serbian propaganda. Furthermore, she tries to “prove” she is not a spy because she is a journalist when in fact journalists are often spies or the info they gather are used by spy agencies. A lot of what they do is psychological profiling. Remember the Australian CARE worker who was caught as a spy during the bombing and he denied it. But when he got back home he admitted he was spying and collecting info on the result and affect the bombing was having on Serbs in particular areas.
Also, despite her being accused as a spy she still says: “That kind of mixed reception, friendly but cautious, was typical.”
Key word here being “friendly”.
So the Serbs are paranoid because there were spies all about in the run up to NATO bombing (and years before that), during and after. Serbia and Serbs were and are targeted. They were thoroughly demonized as a whole.
And as for Zoran’s comments: “If you tell a New Yorker or Londonite that you don’t like their town, they couldn’t care less.”
Well of course not – there countries weren’t recently thoroughly bombed, severely sanctioned and their people and country demonized so bad you had people wanting to nuke it and thinking all the people deserved to die. Presenting the Serbs as neanderthals with no redeeming value whatsoever.
You Serbs who spit and spit on your own people and country, yet offer no constructive criticism, help no one (don’t make any effort to clean up the graffiti you complain about, for example; don’t help refugees, don’t do anything good, etc.), and are also rude and filthy-mouthed – well, maybe you ought to leave for good because if Serbia/Belgrade has to many ill-mannered horrible people you’d be doing it a favor by leaving it.
You only prove Zoran’s point when you react that way, Ida. Are you that threatened that people don’t like Serbia that much? Why should you even care?
“You Serbs who spit and spit on your own people and country, yet offer no constructive criticism, help no one (don’t make any effort to clean up the graffiti”
I’m Serb now? I thought I was Albanian a few posts ago. Oh right “possibly Albanian”.
Why the fuck, when Serbia is unable to wipe its own ass, should that task fall upon me, a tourist?
“Welcome to Serbia. Here’s your mop and bucket”
perhaps you propose a unique sort of touristic safari – “Help Serbia, the (delusional) invalid, accomplish the most basic tasks expected of a society”. Jolly good!
Further,
Well, which one is it, Ida?
Are Serbs friendly and hospitable (as you earlier claimed)?
Or are Serbs suspicious and xenophobic (and so what, fuck you, you bombed us), as you seem to be claiming now?
Are you capable of a position that’s anything other than raw emotion?
You have some serious Serbian self-esteem issues to work out, Ida. It is quite possible not to like your place of origin and not be a traitor or drug dealer. Get over it.
YOU KNOW WHOEVER YOU U CAN GO FUCK YOURSELF, DONT KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU TALKING ABOUT, LOOK AT YOUR OWN SURROUNDIONGS FIRST BEFORE YOU TALK SHIT.