Gospić, 1999

     Well, I made a big trip, 200km by train to get the dam covered, into the area which had seen some heavy fighting (almost half the buildings in ruins and mine field warnings everywhere), to find out - when I got there - the owner of the sire having had forgotten we made an appointment, (by phone, two days before) had gone pig hunting. At home there were left only three generations of women. I was almost desperate at that moment. I had made a train trip, I had no car then, and I had to catch the return train on the schedule and couldn't wait for the said gentleman to return. In the kennel were only one Dalmatian and two tricolor pups, very beautiful, a rare breed that is unfortunately so rare it's on its way to extinction. No Barak. "But he left the dog at home", it turned out the dog had been luckily (!) hurt by a boar the previous weekend - not much, it did not even show, but the nephews had argued on his behalf and the dog stayed home at their place, "it's only two streets by south and three by east." The nephews lived six or seven blocks away but Gospić is a small town and everybody knows all others and everything is easy to find there.
     Naturally, when I had got the ungrateful animals together they did not like the looks or smell or what have you of each other at all, well, at first, but thanks to the gods of dogs (that must be Diana, but wasn't she, most unfittingly, a militant lesbian virgin?) and with some persuasion the sire did his job eventually. In the process I had to wiew two hours of taped Mexican soap and discuss the clothing of the daughter of the family who was to give a piano concert that evening - did you guess how much easier and cheaper can the male performers of classicall music live - they only need one good suit, while a lady musician must appear in a different dress for each concert. Though I would rather have had talked about game and dogs with the male head (hunter) of the family, it was a nice trip. I had the good luck to hit a sunny day in the area with the climate like Switzerland.