I’ve lived in apartments before, but there’s something about apartment living in Croatia that has its own special joys.
During the winter, everyone’s blinds were shut and so we rarely saw into our neighbours’ windows. The blinds keep the heating in, I suppose. We kept our own blinds mostly open, because we like natural light. But Croatians have a more “why have light when you can have warmth” mentality, which I suppose makes sense.
But now that the days are long, warm and sunny, everyone up and down the street has their blinds open. Their balcony doors and windows, too. And not all of them are wearing pants.
Hey, who needs pants?
The guy across the street and two floors up has a fab pair of yellow undies. I don’t know what they’re called. They’re those shorts type underpants that aren’t boxers. Like these:
HOT TIP, or, things I didn’t know before but now do: If you do a Google image search for men’s underwear, the most bizarre forms of this item of clothing will appear first.
Anyway, most of our male neighbours tend to walk around without most of their clothes on. And not just the young ones, either! We watched an old dude leaning out of his window trying to fix his air conditioner, and evidently this is an activity in which shirts are optional.
The women, on the other hand, seem to go about as normal. There are two women who live in the block opposite us and down a level and they do something around their dining table every night which may be scrapbooking. Or hey, I could stop applying stereotypes. Maybe they’re laying the groundwork for a finance start-up that will revolutionise the entire economic world! Maybe they’re planning an incredible bank heist! Maybe they’re forming a political party to simplify the unwieldy Croatian bureaucracy!
(But I think they’re scrapbooking)
Anyway, remember as Padre Pio used to say, Hope, Pray and Keep Your Pants On.
(or don’t. it’s totally optional. I won’t judge)
