Free A Different Lifetime: Stepping Back in Time in the Former Yugoslavia by Martin Radford Page A

of waste ground and
climbing the bank. Reaching the top, I affirm that I am right, I have reached
the channel. Immediately to my right are the large metal floodgates that are
closed to act as a dam, blocking the waters of the river from entering, and
just beyond I can make out the gateway that bars access from the river path.
    Turning to the left, I
continue in the direction I would have followed from the river. There are many
boats anchored here amongst the tall reeds that grow along both banks, and
there are people fishing from many of the small wooden moorings and from
various points along the edges of the banks. The waters are the same deep
blue-green as the Tisa, but the channel is much narrower. And with its wild,
green grassy banks on either side looks like a typical canal.
     It is quite a short walk
along the bank to the bridge that carries the main road into town. Looking
ahead along the channel, I see that it is making its way towards the vicinity
of the railway station, way off in the distance.
    “Where does this channel
go to,” I found myself thinking, “I saw no sign of it in the vicinity of the
station. And such a large body of water must at some point carry the overspill
from the Tisa into some other waterway.”
    But, for now, I decide to
climb up onto the bridge and follow the road back towards the town.
    I proceed along the edge
of the road towards the petrol station, (the only one I have seen in the town);
this, I remembered from my initial arrival at the community, marked the
boundary of the town. The road by local standards, standards, would I suppose
be considered to be quite busy; however, compared with the levels of traffic in
the west, it is fairly quiet. After passing the petrol station, I decide to
take one of the turnings to the left, heading back between the partially constructed
houses towards the stadium: it seems a good idea to head back to the river
rather than continue along the road. Following the main road into town might
prove to be quite a long walk as it enters at the eastern end, that is to say
the far end of the main shopping street, and it may be a tiring walk
considering that I have already been walking for almost an hour.  And anyway,
it is sure to be a nicer walk following the river back towards my apartment.
Perhaps it is the time of year and perhaps it is because of the cold weather
that has prevailed over the past week or so, but this has been the most
solitary of all my expeditions. I know that it has been the norm on my previous
walks to pass only one or two people who might smile and say “hello,” but today
I have seen no one, only those figures fishing in the distance. But the
following day, before class, Bella, one of my students, said to me:
    “I saw you out walking on
Sunday by my house. You should have stopped for coffee.”
    “I didn’t know you lived
over there,” I replied, “but perhaps another time.”
     
     

 

    Outside my apartment with the row of
shops owned
 by Lenna’s cousin across the end of the street

    River Tisa

    The Channel

    The man-made beach on the River Tisa

Chapter 10
The Way the River Flows
     
    There are days when the
waters of the Tisa are completely still; the surface looks like a huge dark
blue-green mirror; not a ripple to be seen. Then there are days when there is a
strong wind blowing and the water is choppy. Sometime the current flows
downstream, and sometimes it flows upstream; I have decided that this is due to
the man-made channel diverting some of the volume of water away from the town,
and also to the fact that the river is dammed just to the south of the town. But
the behaviour of the river seems only to reflect the moods and whims of the
people of the town. Sometimes they are calm and rational, another day they are
complaining about who knows what.
    At the school we have
again reached the time when payments have to be made, and as with the previous
month many of the students are in no rush to part with their