vernon
Harder than Ronnie Pickering
- Location
- Meanwood, Leeds
But not without a struggle:
There was a Kafkaesque experience of purchasing a rail ticket. I went to the counter to buy a rail ticket and the chap called over a colleague who could speak English. She redirected me to the international travel counter. When I got there who should be there but the translator.
'I'd like a ticket to Budapest please', I said.
'I can't sell you one, I've just closed', she said.
'Come back in two hours', she added.
I returned two hours later to find the International travel counter manned by a non-English speaker. He beckoned over a colleague whose English was marginally better and I was asked to come back an hour later.
An hour later I returned to find an English speaking person behind the counter. My request for a ticket was met with, 'Ok, just let me finish this' and she proceeded to complete some form filling and filing. Five minutes later I was served.
Goodbye Belgrade. I've tried hard to like you but you're not quite ready for tourism and the twenty first century. If it hadn't been for Belgrade Fortress and a couple of superb Serb restaurants and some decent beer I'd have little positive to say about you.
There was a Kafkaesque experience of purchasing a rail ticket. I went to the counter to buy a rail ticket and the chap called over a colleague who could speak English. She redirected me to the international travel counter. When I got there who should be there but the translator.
'I'd like a ticket to Budapest please', I said.
'I can't sell you one, I've just closed', she said.
'Come back in two hours', she added.
I returned two hours later to find the International travel counter manned by a non-English speaker. He beckoned over a colleague whose English was marginally better and I was asked to come back an hour later.
An hour later I returned to find an English speaking person behind the counter. My request for a ticket was met with, 'Ok, just let me finish this' and she proceeded to complete some form filling and filing. Five minutes later I was served.
Goodbye Belgrade. I've tried hard to like you but you're not quite ready for tourism and the twenty first century. If it hadn't been for Belgrade Fortress and a couple of superb Serb restaurants and some decent beer I'd have little positive to say about you.
