I took the dog with me to the bakery this morning. It's the first time I've taken him for a walk this winter as the sidewalks are usually covered in pink salt, which the city imports from Morocco. It's hell on the little doggy's paws. Our previous Corgi had part of her pads eaten away from this salt as we didn't clean her feet thoroughly. Don't want to make the same mistake twice.
Residents had been complaining that the salt doesn't melt the ice anyway. What do you expect from African salt, one person griped. But, the science department of one of the universities checked and sure enough the Moroccan salt works just fine. You just have to spread it out before the snow comes, not afterward. The head scientist said coarse sand is just as effective, and it doesn't eat away at dog paws.
Vilnius has become more pet friendly. Most establishments let you bring your dog in. On Saturdays it is a gruff woman behind the counter. She could be the baker herself judging from her demeanor. I was there early enough to have my pick of the selection, although I had to wait for the guy in front of me to collect all his pre-ordered pie shells. I asked for two small loaves of Ciabatta, one of three-grain sourdough bread and another of rye. I had my own bag so that it would be easier to carry the loaves in their paper wrappers.
There was a woman waiting with her dog outside, a bit disgruntled that someone cut in front of her, as she didn't want our dogs to clash inside. Turns out they were quite friendly with one another when I stepped outside with Loki. He is friendly to all dogs. He will plop himself down on the sidewalk in anticipation of their arrival. Tail wagging a mile a minute. But, the reverse is not always the case.
There aren't too many of these old wood houses left in the neighborhood and most of them are in pretty bad shape. Developers want to tear them down and put apartment complexes or office buildings on the lot. Fortunately, Vytautas St. still retains much of its old character. A mix of nineteenth century wood houses and early twentieth century brick commercial buildings. Retailers mostly, like clothes shops. The most recent catering in an interesting variety of men's suits.
It's been a long time since I wore a suit. I have no reason to do so at work and it has been years since we were invited to an embassy event. I used to be on good terms with the Irish ambassador and his wife, but they wrapped up their assignment shortly before COVID and I haven't gotten to know the new ambassador.
David and I had a shared affinity for science fiction novels, although our interests spread far and wide. He had recommended P.G. Wodehouse to me at one point. I finally got around to reading Summer Lightning this past summer and thought about telling him how much I liked it, but figured it was too much in the past to discuss.
Cliodhna was a big James Joyce fan and was always staging events in his honor. One time she showed a retrospective of movies based on his life and books. Daina and I went to see Bloom at the National Library. I recently picked up a Macmillan collector's library edition of Dubliners, which I am enjoying very much. Who knows, this might finally be the year I read Ulysses.
Daina was impressed how well read and interesting they were and how smart their kids were. The oldest daughter quickly picked up Lithuanian and finished school at the Vilnius Lyceum, the most prestigious school in Vilnius, as Cliodhna didn't think she was being challenged at the Vilnius International School. Their youngest boy was quite the science nerd, no doubt taking after his father.
It was interesting to me that David and his son both had Christian names whereas Cliodhna and her two daughters had traditional Irish names. I had asked him once if this was the general fashion. He said no, just the case in our family. The entire family had learned Gaelic and David would begin all his formal speeches in Gaelic. They were very proud of their culture. I later read that less than 2% of Irish can speak Gaelic, so this too was an impressive feat.
I miss not having these interactions. We were close to our Romanian neighbors when we first moved to Žverynas in 2001. Hard to believe it was that long ago. We had helped them decorate their house as they didn't know what to do with it. Lucian had spent time in the US and so we shared common ground. Luminita was a lovely delicate person, so proper. They would invite us to all their events, including the time they entertained the last surviving Romanian prince. That was quite an honor. Their children were the same age as our children which further cemented our connection. Still keep in touch with Luminita through facebook. Lucian doesn't have time for that sort of thing as he is now a major figure in the Romanian state department.
At one point, I thought I might like to be part of the state department. I had all these contacts. I was even on good terms with the US Embassy at the time, managing a project for them where they would reroute all the public utilities off their compound. I had to take the foreign service exam. How hard could that be? Turned out it was very hard. Not so much the civics and language sections as one in which they more or less administered a lie detector test. There were all sorts of personal questions, multiply rephrased, to the point I got quite angry and responded in kind. I wasn't given a score but simply told later that I had failed. I didn't take it too hard, as it had brought back all the bad memories from my experience with the National Park Service in Washington, DC. I didn't want to go through that bureaucratic nightmare again.
I continued to do projects for the embassy in Vilnius, but that too soured over time. Not so much with the embassy staff itself but with the state department representatives who came in to oversee the progress of work. These persons were constantly changing, had different attitudes, different approaches, and didn't seem to understand that if they wanted to have public water, sewage and electricity rerouted they had to pay for the new connections. I tried to tell them that in the overall picture of things it was a small price to pay, but they considered it extortion and that was the end of that.
The odd thing is that all the years I managed projects for the US Embassy, I was only invited to two functions - a Christmas party one year and a Fourth of July celebration another year, and that the result of the work Daina and I did for the American International School. I had become friends with the director at the time. Maybe the embassy had seen the responses I wrote on the foreign service exam to the personal prying?
I tried to strike up a relationship with the Croatian ambassador who came after the Romanians, but he could talk your ear off without saying very much. His wife was more interesting, as she was an architect, but deferred to her husband in all conversations. It was fine until the invasion of Crimea in 2014, then all his pro-Russian sentiments came out, telling me how Crimea never belonged to Ukraine. "Khrushchev's gift," he called it. We got into an argument over this. I said that historically it was Greek and Tatar and later part of the Ottoman Empire, so how did it make it Russian? Back and forth we went until we just looked at each other in disgust. We avoided such topics afterward. I never got back a book I had lent him on the Jewish history of Vilnius, one of my pet peeves. I doubt he ever read it.
Žverynas is a favorite neighborhood for ambassador residences and a few embassies. The Russian embassy sits by the duck pond where parents take their kids to play and feed the many ducks. It was built during Stalinist times and looms over the pond like some menacing spirit out of a Bulgakov novel with its huge double-headed eagle insignia. Russians are not much for subtlety. So, the city has responded in turn, naming the short road to the embassy Ukrainian Heroes Street.
One of my son's friends is convinced there is all kinds of nefarious activities taking place there. He noted what looked like a young married couple with a baby carriage going around the outer wall of the embassy. It was fine until two or three years passed and they were still doing this. That baby should be able to walk by now or at least be in a stroller. He was sure there was something else in that stroller. Maybe they were surveilling you I said.
The Kazakhs also went big, building an enormous embassy by the river that similarly looked like something out of Stalinist times. They got a good price for the consulate they previously had by the American embassy when they expanded their compound. The Embassy of Kazakhstan is surrounded by a high metal fence with little signs warning persons not to let their dogs poop on their ground. Actually, the fence defines their ground, so pooping beside the fence is on city property. Not like I don't pick it up anyway.
Other embassies and residences are more subdued. The Armenians took over a tall gable-roofed house near ours but I only remember the pretty Armenian receptionist who left promptly at six each evening. The only encounter we had was when someone from the embassy noticed a small rifle in the back window sill of our son's car. They called the police. Two cops came to investigate the matter. They saw immediately that it was a pellet gun but told our son he might want to keep it in the trunk so as not to attract suspicion. He had forgotten all about it, as it was a prop for one of his parties at the garden house. Some redneck theme as I recall.
I really miss David and Cliodhna. It was always pleasant to be with them. They would not only invite us to embassy events but informal gatherings at their house as well. It was where we met the director of the Vilnius International School, who first told us of her desire to build an extension for their growing number of high school age students. She came to us a couple years later after purchasing the building next door in the Old Town. David was looking after us, I guess. Lucian had been the same way, introducing us to some of the local businesspersons he knew, but nothing ever really came of it.
You have to continually cultivate these relationships and I've never really been very good at it. I met these persons by happenstance, maintained friendships as long as they were here and that was the end of it until someone else pitched up. Don't have that opportunity now that our previous neighbors sold their houses and we no longer have these ambassadorial connections. Hence, the last time I wore a suit was probably four years ago.
I did admire the tweed herringbone jacket I saw in the window though. Reminded me of the Donegal tweed jacket I inherited from my father. It's a bit moth eaten, the lining falling apart, and not really suitable for events, but I don't see any pressing need to buy a new one. Loki lifted his leg by the wall and marked the spot.
Daina was still doing exercises when we got back, so I waited to make French toast. Nobody likes soggy French toast. After we had finished, Loki stood up and reached with his long tongue to lick the remnants from the plate. He barely gets his nose over the table, so he relies on smell to locate the food. Shouldn't let him do it but it is funny to watch. The cat licked herself on the windowsill. She doesn't have a sweet tooth.
We talk about trying to cultivate more friendships in the neighborhood but Daina says it is too much trouble. She remembered the time she organized an excursion for ambassadors' wives to Trakai. It took her days to plan it and then everyone wanted to go their own way and most weren't satisfied in the end. She remembered the Chinese ambassador's wife was very friendly, however, and invited us to the grand opening of a new restaurant that she said would serve authentic Chinese food. She was quite gracious, introducing us to various persons that evening, making sure we felt welcome. Of course, they left a long time ago and we no longer have any contact with the Chinese embassy.
Yep, Daina said, a long time ago. It does seem as though our lives are in the past sometimes. We have a small circle of friends, some from when I first arrived in Vilnius, but for the most part we keep to ourselves. Daina felt we had to do something for our ambassador friends given all the events they invited us to. It could be quite exhausting as she wanted it to be a fine dinner. I said they are probably looking for something simple given all the lavish affairs.
We had invited David and Cliodhna and their children over one evening. I made steaks and sweet potatoes which went over well. Daina made her spinach pie as she didn't think the steaks were enough. I had picked out a nice wine and had a good single malt to cap off the evening. David was looking at his watch the whole time. Turned out he had to pick up his eldest daughter at the airport. He apologized profusely. Cliodhna stayed. We had a long talk about the theater in Vilnius, which she very much enjoyed. Like many foreigners, she was surprised how good it was as one didn't associate Lithuania with great theater. However, the leading directors had all studied and trained in Moscow, and offered their unique interpretations of classic plays.
Maybe I should tell David I finally read P.G. Wodehouse just for fun. See what he's up to these days. How Cliodhna and the kids are doing? Never hurts to keep in contact.
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