The new home for "5 Heronjte"

( Can you spot them - they ARE in the photo!)


I met a friend this week on a visit to Shkoder.
He came up from Tirana by train.
When I met him, he told me that he had found the 5 Heroes.( and full credit to him - because they are NOT easy to find)
he said to me...."They are in a rubbish dump just outside of the city!"

So yes - it is true - the 5 heroes have a new home!!

...and yes there is some good news.
You can actually view the beauty of this sculpture from above and not just below. You can actually touch it. You can actually appreciate just how great a work of art it is.
That is really good!!

...of course, that is if you can actually find where the 5 heroes are!

They are in the middle of nowhere.
wait...that is not true.
they are in the middle of a rubbish dump....way outside of Shkoder....



The only people there were two men burning rubbish and a donkey!



Talking of donkeys.
What a stupid decision to send them here!!

And there is more...
I went to get my wife a birth certificate and family certificate today.
First of all, why does she have to have a birth certificate dated within the last 3 months?!
Her details of her birth do not, and never will change, so any birth certificate will ALWAYS be the same.
Anyway, whilst i was there , and waiting ( as you do for a certificate!! - usually for most of the morning!) I decided to check the maps on the wall to see what zone we are in for my wife's identity card.

Maybe I just got very stupid or disorientated, or maybe geography was never my strong point, but I could not find where we live!!

I mean , we live at "5 heronjte".
How difficult can it be to find that!!!

Then I realised the problem.
" 5 Heronjte" does not exist anymore...neither does Rruga Çlirimi....nor nearly every other road in Shkoder. they have all been renamed.
I now live on rruga Qemal Draçini, Sheshi Demokraci, Shkoder. ( ?!)


So here is Sheshi Demokraci!
The lasting legacy of democracy....


I remember seeing a Documentary in 1994 on the BBC in the UK, before I came to Albania. It was by Andy Kershaw a Radio One DJ on a visit to eastern Europe and of course - to Albania. His program only lasted 30 minutes and , 15 minutes were for Albania. I always remember how he finished off his report. he was up in the mountains somewhere having been invited to a wedding. There, he was with Albanians sitting on a wooden seat drinking raki and toasting the happy couple....
As the day went on, someone got in a Mercedes car and started driving round and round a field...as there was in fact no real road to the house where the wedding was celebrated.

The film showed a group of mainly young men laughing as the driver reversed in circles at high speed in a huge field....and Andy Kershaw gave us his prophetic words...

"My lasting view of Albania.....

Travelling at high speed into democracy - but in reverse gear - not knowing where they are going!"