My first entry for Tara's Gallery in a while, this weeks theme was The World Around Us.
Those of you who followed my previous blog might remember that I spent quite a lot of my time in Bosnia going to tiny football grounds, watching different villages compete. One of my favourite pitches was a village called Karakaj, just outside of Zvornik on the very eastern side of Bosnia. Partly because I always found the players from Karakaj to be hilarious with wicked senses of humour but partly because it epitomises the quirkiness of Bosnia. For the pitch is situated right next to a rail track. The spectators have no choice but to stand on the track to watch the game. When a train comes (which it does fairly frequenly, Karakaj is actually an industrial zone) everyone has to scramble to get off the track. The game doesn't stop. Noone seems to find this dangerous, or even odd. Just one of those things.
Eastern Bosnia isn't well known and those that do know it tend to know it for the events of 1992 - 1995. But it is a beautiful place where people are building their lives as best they can. There are parts of Bosnia that are well known and well photographed; the old bridge in Mostar, the Bascarsija in Sarajevo. All lovely and beautiful places. But I like this picture, it is of a lesser known Bosnia, which has humour and resilience. It isn't the best but it is the only I've got of a train coming through during a game.
