We Do Adventure

In England I wore the same clothes all year round. Obviously not the same T-shirt with my jeans and zip top, I had an embarrassing large T-shirt collection, but you get the idea. I’ve quickly realised that while this is fine in a mild climate it will not do here. I worked late into the night the other day in a T-shirt and two jumpers, despite having a heater just a couple of feet away. A high-ceilinged apartment with no central heating is very different from the small two bedroom terrace we left in England. That’s why this morning I squeezed in a shopping trip to buy a few more long-sleeved tops. I was crossing Spanish Square when I saw something that caused an involuntary smile. Just beyond the mountains surrounding Mostar I could see another peak white with snow. I don’t doubt this is a childish reaction but in that respect I had a deprived childhood. The south of England rarely sees snow of any kind, let alone the kind that settles. In thirty years I remember perhaps four or five oc...

Never before have I seen hangman generate such enthusiastic participation. Given that the setting was a youth club running an evening for 11-14 year olds the response was staggering; hilarious at times too. It was a team-based head-to-head competition. Rowan and I were in a team although I don’t think we helped much. We know our Bosnian alphabet alright but were pretty sure that the letters you’d pick first in English were unlikely to win the game here. Our hesitance didn’t hinder our team, who emerged victorious after six or seven rounds. There were screams and squeals, hugs and high-fives. I’m sure that if we were up on our local slang we’d heard the equivalent of ‘bring it on’ or ‘you think you’re all that’ as the banter flew between the opposing sides. There were prizes for the winning team. One young lad returned to a FIFA-two-thousand-and-something soccer match we’d paused during the competition brandishing a small, flat-packed, polystyrene airplane he was clearly happy with. Fun...