An Introduction To The Humanities

This could be an introduction to the humanities of Split. That's a bit gauche, n'est pas? (Pretentious! Moi!). What I mean is that perhaps I could say a little of the characters I know in this town, just to take my mind off the intellectual maunderings of the OU course presenters.

For example -
"It is not simply illusion that the spectator assents to or agrees to entertain. It is not just the apparent transformation of the sheet of paper into a space with a sphere in it that holds our attention in such pictures as Russell's. Rather what is intriguing is the curiously paradoxical experience of seeing the paper as both literally flat and and imaginitively fathomless."

I mean, for fuck's sake! This is like Father Ted trying to explain perspective to Dougal by holding up a wee toy cow and saying 'very small' and pointing to real cows out the caravan window and saying 'far away'!

So, what's it like living in Dalmatia? I'm glad you asked. In the summer it's fine. The sun shines most of the time. The temperature is pleasant and it's only in late July through to late August that the humidity get's a bit uncomfortable. A few of my aquaintances congregate at the Backpacker Cafe and while the idle hours away. I might have gone to the flicks with them tonight but I decided to stay in and study. Now I'm doing this. I started to write about the people I have come to know here, the patrons of the Backpacker Cafe, but it was too hard-edged and I did not want to hurt anyone's feelings. Suffice it to say their is a disparate group of ex-pats who have made their home here, some permanently, some less so. They span the spectrum from writers (well one writer) to actors (okay one ex actor) to property speculators (a slack handful including the ex actor) to others who are just taking time out of normal life. As this is a kind of crossroads for people going into or coming out of Eastern Europe or touring south Dalmatia then there is a regular tide of humanity washing through all summer, so it's always vibrant and interesting. Once summer passes it's so much quieter. I hated last winter here at first. I arrived in February and it was truly miserable but, once I found a friendly pub it wasn't so bad, and then spring was cancelled and we leapt straight into summer in mid-May and life was good.

I'll see you later.