Blister in the Sun

Nothing could be further from the truth than my blog title. It is freezing cold here and dark, even during the day. No, it is not dark like in Iceland or Alaska, but it is definitely overcast. What's new? Not a whole lot. Oh! In theory, the Skopje office of Air Bulgaria has been authorized to change my return flight tickets. So, later today, I will find out if that is, in fact, the case. What is wrong with this picture: I have to email the travel agent I used in San Diego to get the Skopje office authorized to handle the ticket change. Cristi and I were talking last night that while America is hyper customer service (hence my travel agent from February helping me in November), Macedonia and Bulgaria are anti-customer service. Now, there are tremendous benefits to living here, like if you need your shoes repaired, it takes 15 minutes and is cheap (except for the time when the repair guy dropped a lit cigarette on my leather boots and ruined part of them but, hey, you can't have it all!), you don't get the evil eye if you camp at a table in a restaurant because they get paid hourly, etc.

Speaking of smoking, all cigarette advertising will now bring a 2,000-4,500 Euro fine as of December 1st. This is going to dramatically affect cafes. Many of the cafes umbrellas for shade have cigarette brands or slogans on them. Lots of cafes have twirling boxes of cigarettes in a case, even if you cannot purchase cigarettes in the cafe. Many awnings on buildings over bodegas have cigarette brands on them. I wonder where this anti-smoking campaign came from, considering the majority of the population smokes (youth and adults alike). How did this ever pass the parliament? What will the adverts be when you get off the plane in Skopje now that cigarettes are not to be advertised? So many questions. I will keep you posted.

Remember the no alcohol sales after 7 PM law? That appears to be well enforced. The grocery store covers the wine, beer and liquor at 7 on the dot so maybe the cigarette advertising ban will be the same way. The little bodega near me continues to not sell alcohol. I wonder if there is less youth drinking, which is the main impetus to creating this law.