Review: 2010 Volkswagen City Golf

As far as my real estate knowledge takes me, it is next to impossible to find a townhouse that is not part of a complex. To preserve the uniformity of these house clusters, every complex is governed by a 'strata,' which coordinates (read: decides on) at least every aspect of the exterior appearance of every residing unit.

When it comes time to renovate the complex, the strata evaluates the weight of the porcelain swine-look-a-like that has eaten all of the members’ monthly fees and subsequently decides how good of a company they can hire to swap out the insulation, re-blacken the roofs, and apply new plastic boards onto the outside of every unit.

Not only do I happen to live in such a complex, but also my group of houses has taken the big step and asked some people with white vans to give the place a once-over. By the looks of things, though, my complex’s pig wasn’t quite fat enough. Allow me to elaborate…

Developments, part VI

In Serbian tradition, when a baby is first brought home, a red string is tied around his wrist which protects the little guy from bad luck and bad people.

Alternatively, a red ribbon is tied on the top of the baby's crib so that when people with an evil eye enter the room, they first spot the ribbon, which absorbs their malevolent gaze before it has a chance to get to the baby.

Many people laugh at all this, citing it as useless superstition, but somehow all babies end up having either red strings or ribbons...

Developments, part V

Before you can register a car or renew its insurance in Serbia, it has to take and pass the safety inspection. It's done every year (every six months if the vehicle is a taxi), and inspectors check everything: bodywork, emissions, engine, battery, seat belts, airbags, lights...notice how they aren't satisfied with just sticking a tube on your exhaust for two minutes.

Usually, people with much older cars fear the inspection like an evil sorcerer in a particular grown-up children's book. It's moments like the safety inspection when you are glad you laid down the cash for a full restoration.

Fortunately, the process of finishing the papers for the car was also far from horrible, not involving any unplanned requests for cash (these aren't as rampant in Serbia as you might think)... But every bureaucratic adventure cannot be without its obstacles. It's physically impossible.

Developments, part IV

Most people enjoy doing what they are good at. Therefore, if your profession entails law, you most likely will enjoy filing paperwork to some extent. If you aren't a lawyer, though, the process of paperwork promises to be tedious and overwhelming.

Naturally, when it's all over with, the feeling of relief is endless.

This time around, I am one of those people. Not a lawyer, but somebody doing paperwork. This is much easier said than done.

Developments, part III

(VW Golf Harlequin)

Back in the day when I was a kid, coloring was all the rage. We were all required to have a full set of pencil-crayons for school, so that we could do all the assignments that mandated making rainbows of provincial borders.

As the years progress, and as one learns the true value of pencil crayons, they become quite the commodity. Those that had them reveled (well, not quite), those that didn't, borrowed, and those that didn't borrow, stole. Thankfully, one innovative grade-school teacher came up with the idea of 'collateral', so the integrity of those willing to share was ultimately preserved.

Road Trip Take Two, Wrap-Up

(So close, yet so far.)

Typically, the first time one visits a particular place, their impression is either extremely good or extremely bad; it's most common to have a positive one. Exploring an interesting place for the first time evokes a feeling not unlike that of certain people who came to these lands on wind-powered wooden rafts hundreds of years ago.

Therefore, the sense of exploration is vast, and more so is the sense of accomplishment. As a result, happiness increases and your impression ends up being very polished.

One who is so bold as to return to the same place a second time commonly finds that the very same setting is not so appealing as it was, and the opinion that time around is face-down.

However, there are cases where the first impression is proven to be very accurate and it does not morph the second time around, but is cemented further.

Simply put, my own second-impression experience fits into neither of these. Considering the scope and nature of the project which this blog is mainly about, you probably aren't surprised to read that.