Raising a tricky issue

On your way to the Macedonian border between Niš and Vranje, you have a chance to be flagged to the side of the road by a friendly looking Serbian police officer. So were we today. Strategically positioned at the bottom of a hill, in the shade of a tree, a police officer moved in sight when I was approaching him. With a move that resembles Michael Jacksons flexibility in his "I'm bad!" days, he made clear I was expected to discontinue my traffic participation for at least a short while. I pulled over, stopped the engine, looked in the rear view mirror to the police officer and waited for him and his colleague to approach the car. Nothing of the expected happened, so I got out of the car. Approached the police officer with a 'dobro vecher' and asked if he spoke english. His nodding explained that I had 'nema chance', but the 'kollege' in the car could be of assistance in this matter. He appeared to be the man in charge. Positioned between comfortably sitting and ultimately relaxed lying he was handling a laser speedo meter with kid like satisfaction. Aiming the apparatus on cars coming from the mountain, it beeped dangerously at almost every car that flashed down the parking place where we were having our little chat. We started to communicate:
"Dobro vecher!"
"Holiday to Greece?"
"No, work in Skopje!"
"Oh"
"Was I driving too fast?"
"Da!"
"How much too fast?" To that question of mine I got the following surprising answer:
"1,500 Denari!" After a little while I recovered from a shock. The laser man didn't look up from his major business - aiming the laser speedo meter at approaching cars and let it 'beep'. Then I started to smile and said that I was not (yet) interested in the value of my little misdemeanor, but that I wanted to know how fast I was driving. From the backwards positioned officer in charge came a smile. He waved his hand in a motion resembling 'class dismissed', and I was off.
There was nothing else for me to do there. I finished with a "Priatno!", to which more smiles came. This was not the right moment for cosy communication, so I decided. I left with mixed feelings of 'pheeew, I was lucky!' and 'what the hell was that about?' still coming up when I look back on that awkward moment.

Now, I'm back in Skopje. Being back in Macedonia feels great. Tomorrow, it's time to explore Ohrid again. I heard it's going to be crowded there as it's National Picknick Day.

Today's photos - still of Belgrade

	First Easter Day: not exactly a lively and buzzing city. In the far end of the street, a glimps can be caught from the massive Sveti Sava - the biggest orthodox church in the Balkans.
	Coming up with a rather bland description here: "Two families enjoying the sun".
	Nothing to add here.
	Painful?!
	The former police headquarters is still standing as the NATO bombings left it. Rumour has it that two bombs are still inside the buildings awaiting their big day to GO OFF!
	A closer look at the place of impact
	A year after the bombings, most of Belgrade was rebuild again...
	Back home